A New Face in the Wheel of Time
by blackmagelikesevilpie
Summary: Please take a look at final chapter... poll... possible scrapping of this story.
1. Chapter 1 : A Talking Statue

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Wheel of Time, but I do use direct quotes from the books in my story. Read and enjoy, I certainly am.**

**A New Face In the Wheel of Time**

Looking around the museum I noticed a small statue of a man with his arms raised, a sword in one hand and missing his left. Other displays could have drawn my attention, a painting of a magnificent view of a waterfall, a small group of vases that were so intricately designed I thought they must have been done by a computer. The label by the vases said they were over four thousand years old, but the statue of the man with his arms raised seemed to draw me to it. It was his arms that drew me. His face had no detail, as if it had been scoured away rather than not there. The display said that it had only been added a few months ago, and that the results from its carbon dating had not come back yet.

But his arms, I thought I could see small snakes wrapping around his forearms and ending on the backs of his hands. No, not snakes. Dragons! I knew this statue! Well I didn´t really know it, but I knew where the inspiration for it had come from. I had only read the series twice.

The statue was about a foot tall, maybe a bit more and a rusty reddish brown color except for the dragons which were golden, the man, Rand al Thor, was wearing a coat of some kind that seems to have been brushed by the wind and was blown out slightly to the side, his pants were the same way. As I took a closer look at it, I blinked and thought I saw the coat and pants move slightly.

"I´m insane," I muttered to myself, but took a look at the coat and pants again, I was pretty sure they hadn´t moved, and I blinked again. The coat and pants DID move that time! Infact, as I watched they kept on moving as if the clothes were being blown about by a slight breeze. I took a step back and was going to point out the imposibility of a moving statue, then considered the fact that this may be some kind of joke, like a ´Candid Camera´thing.

"Kel 'Aridavin," the statue had spoken! "You are a long way from your time, do you wish to return to it?"

No one around me seemed to be able to hear the statue speaking, as a matter of fact, no one seemed to notice I was there either. They walked right by me, with hardly anyone in the museum they walked right beside me. One man even brushed against my roughly but didn't even look at me. I was bumped closer to the statue and nearly fell into it. Return to my own time? What was it talking about?

"Yes." The answer came unbidden from my lips, as if someone else had spoken for me. I clapped my hands to my mouth and held them there, stopping any other words that might want to escape.

The statue's arms dropped, and the world went white. I felt a presence all around me, as if I had been embraced by someone who had just thrown a warm blanket around me, there was an echo of an unrecognisable voice before it made sense to me, one that seemed as familiar to me as my mother´s, "My child, you are no longer needed in that time. My Will must counter the one who would oppose it. Be My Hand, and prevent calamaty from taking the world."

* * *

The surge of Saidar woke Moiraine from sleep, and she felt straight away that nothing about the flows of the Power were what she knew to be possible. Saidar felt as if it were merging with an invisible force and working in unison with it. The only other force that she could imagine that would work at all with Saidar was Saidin, the male half of the True Source. In an instant she was dressed and rushing out of her tent towards where the residue of the Power still remained. Lan was at her side the moment she was out of her tent and her heart skipped a beat when she realized that the flows were coming from Rand's direction.

The quick run through the Far Dareis Mai encampment around Rand was interrupted by several Wise Ones coming to investigate as well. The Maidens who had been guarding the Dragon´s tent were crouched around a body, "What happened here?" Moiraine's melodious voice calmed all the women huddled around the body and there was enough light to see that the body was a man.

"We do not know, Aes Sedai. There was a flash of white light, and then this man fell to the ground." One of the Maidens said, although the one who had spoken could not be distinguished among the growing crowd of Aiel women.

Moiraine looked down at the fellow, and the first thing that surfaced amoung a mass of confused thoughts was that he was wearing very odd clothing. Nothing she had ever seen before, and did not think anyone else had ever seen either. He had on a loose black shirt made of a material she did not recognize, and she knew that even in the faint light of the moon she would have been able to make out almost any fabric. The weave was strange, not one she recognized either, and his pants seemed to be of a tough blue cotton. What he had on his feet could only be described as shoes, but they were even more foreign than his shirt and pants. He lay on his stomach so she could not see his face but she expected him to look as different from anything she had seen as his clothes were. Rand came from the tent then, she was surprised it had taken him so long to react to what had happened. He was still tucking in his shirt but she imagined that he was holding Saidin, and was not hurrying because he believed the situation under control. Aviendha came out right after him, dressed in the white blouse and skirts of the Wise Ones.

Grabbing the unconscious man by the shoulder, Moiraine gently turned him over and studied his face. He did not have any traits that would name him of a particular nation, a strong chin that may have named him Domani was cancelled by his pale skin, his largish eyes may have come from Tear, but then his broad shoulders could have been Aiel. Most interesting was his ears, they ended in points, rather than curving like normal human ears. She didn't have time to worry about his ears now though.

"Who is he?" Rand asked, his voice was cold and emotionless.

Not answering at first, Moiraine looked at the man's face, rather than his characteristics, a very young man, but a man. She felt a flutter in her middle and noticed his whole face for the first time, instead of picking it apart. He was beautiful, not merely handsome. Lan moved to one side so she could see him from the corner of her eye, a reassurance or a reminder? Then what it was about him struck her, it was _his_ face.

"Get a pallet prepared, and put it in my tent," it was an effort to keep her voice steady, one of the Maidens spoke quickly to a Gai'shain and she ran off to do as the Aes Sedai had requested. "Lan, carry him. I want to be there when he wakes so I can question him."

"When he wakes," Rand's voice had emotion in it again, "I want to be there as well."

Nodding, Moiraine let Lan lift the man up and followed him as he followed a Gai'shain to the tent she and Lan slept in. More Wise One's were coming down to the camp of Maidens and she and Lan ducked quickly into her tent to avoid being cornered by one of them.

The Gai'shain was still laying out the pallet when they ducked in, and left as soon as she was done. Lan laid the unconscious man on the pallet and Moiraine embraced Saidar, warding the tent against eavesdroppers.

"Who is he Moiraine," Lan's voice was hard, but not cold. He looked at her with the question in his stone carved eyes.

"I do not know Lan, even if I did I would not say yet. I felt the Power being used but Saidin must have been used as well because I felt an incomplete weave. If both parts of the Power were used, and in the unison I felt Saidar being used, it could only be the Forsaken."

Lan had his sword drawn, even though she did not know how in the confines of the tent, and had it pressed against the man's neck. Pressing her hand against the flat of the blade she moved it away from his neck and looked at him with a small smile on her lips. He looked at her with the stone hard gaze he seemed to have been carved from and did not blink. They were both thinking the same thing, what could this man have done to anger two of the Forsaken? Why had they not killed him? And if it wasn't the Forsaken...

Rand came into the tent, pushing aside the tent flap and letting in a blast of cold air. In the excitement of the evening she had not realized how cold it was outside and even if she could ignore the cold, it still affected her body. He closed the flap behind him and fastened it to the ground. Looking at the two of them, he turned his attention to the man on the ground. In the lamp light she could tell that he was young, Rand's age or a little older. His shirt was decorated with words she did not recognize and designs that she imagined were foreign to anyone on this or the other side of the Dragon Wall.

"The Forsaken?" Moiraine had expected him to demand to know what she knew, even expected him to tell her to leave now, but she did not expect him to be so calm and calculating. "I felt Saidin being used, a massive amount of the Power," he paused as if trying to decide how to say what he wanted to.

"It felt incomplete," Moiraine finished for him, "I felt the same with Saidar."

Rand looked at the man, and then looked at Lan, "It felt like," he shut his mouth, grinding his teeth, "it felt like Saidin was being woven with something I couldn't feel, as if it was working in complete unison with something invisible. But how can that be? Moiraine, you said they work in opposition and unison, this was perfect unison."

The three fell silent, none saying any more until the man stirred. Moiraine dreaded his waking, it was _his _face.

* * *

My head felt fuzzy, but when I opened my eyes I was looking at three people I did not know, dressed in a way I didn't think anyone did anymore. One was a woman I couldn't put an age to, for a moment she was as young as me, then older, and back again, but her eyes were too knowing to be young. The other two were men I wasn't sure could be real. One was wrapped in a cloak that shifted colors, a Gaidin's cloak. How did I know that? His face was all hard planes and angles, seemingly carved from stone. His expression gave as much away as the rock I had compared his facial features to. The other man was as stony faced as the first, but he had red hair and grey-blue eyes while the man I had thought was, Gaidin I think it was, had dark hair and dark eyes. The faint light of the single lamp didn't let me see much more.

"Where am I?" I asked, and they seemed startled for a moment.

The red haired man spoke, but his words were gibberish to me. It might as well have been French or Russian, I couldn't have understood either any better. I did hear one name though, Mat. At that my ears pricked up, Gaidin was the Old Tongue for warders in the Wheel of Time! The man with the face of stone left the tent and the woman looked at me as though I was an insect she would like to dissect, and then figure out how everything worked. Neither spoke, but the two did share several glances.

"Do you not speak English?" I asked them both, "French? Russian? German?" A strange feeling came over me, and I looked at the woman. "No, no that's not possible." She must have seen the look in my eyes because she stared even harder at me. The Wheel of Time, a series I had read a while ago. Most of the books were still fresh in my mind, if not completely. "Moiraine?" She jumped, and the red haired man looked about as pale as he could go. She turned to him and they gibbered at each other for several minutes. "Moiraine Damodred, of the Blue Ajah!" They both looked stunned, I looked at the man, at his arms, at the dragons on his arms, "Rand al'Thor! The Dragon! How is this possible!" My eyes had gone just about as wide as they would open, I was as tense as I could get. I felt like passing out, I was loosing my grip on reality and slipping into darkness, but I fought against it. "Gaidin! Lan Mandragoran! How is this possible?" Darkness took me as Lan brought a man I could only guess was Mat Cauthon into the tent.

It seemed only a moment and I was awake again, four faces staring at me. If they called Mat, was I speaking the Old Tongue? "Mat Cauthon?"

He looked about as startled that I knew his name, even though Moiraine had most likely told him that he knew their names, and opened and closed his mouth several times before he spoke, "How do you know my name?"

"I," oh well you're a character in a book I read, I know exactly what has happened to you, what will happen to you, and what you have thought whenever Robert Jordan chose to write from your point of view. "I don't know, I looked at faces and names pop into my head. It's as if I know you, but I don't at the same time."

Mat spoke to Moiraine, Lan and Rand, probably telling them what I had, and some more from the looks of it, and then he looked back at me, "Now I've done it, now they know I speak the Old Tongue, what have you gotten me into? Who are you? Moiraine says it was the Power that brought you here, and won't say any more than that. I'd suggest you keep your mouth clamped shut but she´ll get something out of you before the night is over or she'll let the Wise Ones at you. Blood and bloody ashes! How could they know I speak it?"

This was the Wheel of Time! I knew this world, I had read the books! How was this possible? Unless this was the most bizarre dream I'd ever had. Rand, Lan, Moiraine, and Mat all looked at me as if I was some kind of serpent, and then I felt like vomiting. The urge to empty myself of everything I had ever eaten grew and grew until I turned away from them and threw up, but it wasn't food. Blood, so much blood that I was sure I had no more in my veins for my heart to beat. It had begun coagulating so the hardened flecks tore at my throat, tears streamed down my face from the pain, my stomach tried to rip itself apart to be empty.

After what seemed like an eternity it was done, I shuddered so badly it was worried it might be a seizure. Moiraine put her hands on my head the second I had it turned around to look at them, and I snapped taunt. My muscles strained so hard I felt like I was going to snap in two. Words filled my head then, words and phrases from a language I didn´t know, whole conversations flew back and forth faster than I could follow. It hurt just trying to catch one word out of the thousands rushing through my brain. Along with the barrage of words, I felt as if my 5 senses were being stretched into 6 or 7. I felt an awareness of something beyond my view, something just beyond the corner of my eye that if I turned fast enough I would catch a glimps of. Pain came then, I had been in pain before but not like this. It was an exhaustion pain as if my body had been pushed past it´s limits in a way I didn´t know how to acomplish. My whole being seemed to be drained of any energy that I could ever or have ever possesed and I hurt so badly! Death would have been preferable at that moment and I was about to scream out and beg for it when I felt the pain leeching from my body.

Wheezing, the breath coming back into my lungs as I collapsed on the ground, I sucked in air greedily. "What," I had to breath in-between each word, "did, you do," another breath, "to me?"

"He can speak normally now!" Mat said, "Well you don't need me, I'll just," Lan still held him by the shoulders and Mat was unable to leave.

"He can," Moiraine agreed, "and it would be nice to have two Ta'veren here to question him." Ta'veren! Rand was the most powerful Ta'veren the Tower had ever heard of, and if it was working for him he made people say things they normally wouldn't have except for the one in one thousand, even one in ten thousand chance that they might have.

"Ta'veren, I know what ta'veren are. What you have to ask yourselves though, is whether you want the answer that I would only give once in ten thousand re-runs of this moment?" They all looked at me now, no longer semi-focusing on the others. I wished I could stare at me at that moment, I hadn´t even intended on saying that! Ta´veren was working on me right then! "I'll answer your questions but I don't want to be forced into it, it's always easier to ask nicely." Moiraine just looked levelly at me. I wanted to tape my mouth shut, Lan and Rand still looked carved from stone, and Mat just looked as though he wanted to leave very badly.

The Aes Sedai wasn't put off in the slightest, "Very well, answer me this. You appear in the night, wearing those strange clothes and speak the Old Tongue. Then when I touch your skin you speak our own language. I understood some of what you said to Mat, though much of it was lost in translation." Mat's eyes opened wide again, it seemed most of tonight was going to be wide eyed and pale faced. Rand and Lan alone did not change in expression, "Do you know where you are?"

"Assuming that certain things have taken place, and the fact that we are in a tent, we are either in the Aiel Waste, in Kinslayer's Dagger, or in Cairhien on your way to the capital where the Shaido are besieging the city.

A white aura that had surrounded Moiraine from the moment I was able to look up after the pain suddenly made sense to me. She was holding Saidar, and I saw thin strands of Spirit, Air and Fire encircle the tent and add to a barrier already there. Right then I just about passed out. "I see the aura of Saidar around you," Her eyes went wide and I knew for sure, Lan took a step back, Rand looked visibly shaken, and Mat looked like he wanted to sick up. I felt a surge of something coming from Rand, and I looked at him knowing instinctively what it was, "I can feel Saidin in you." Rand looked like he had taken a blow, and I felt nothing from him anymore. The void and Saidin had fled him. "Moiraine," I was scared, there was too much happening, I was going to pass out again. Too much to make sense of anything, I hadn't meant to babble like that or act a fool in front of these people. "What is going on, how can I see Saidar in you, and feel Saidin in Rand."

"I don't know," the glow that surrounded her was the last thing I saw before I fell into darkness.

**Okay, I´ve updated this chapter and changed a few things, not much but it makes it easier to read and adds more background to what´s going on. I figure I´ll update a little each week, on Monday´s unless things change here, so look for these disclaimers at each chapter. If I don´t finish a chapter I´ll put a notice where I´ve gotten to. That will be for you and for me because I have to do this in an Internet café and have no way to save stuff.**

**Hasta luego!  
****blackmagelikesevilpie**


	2. Chapter 2 : The Theory

**Disclaimer: Don't own Wheel of Time, this is the last time I'll say it.  
Disclaimer 2: As it stands the story is progressing painfully, I am completely aware at how corny some of it sounds, specifically the start. It's going to keep being corny for a little while more, I had a hard enough time working this out the first time I wrote it and I'm not going for a third.  
Disclaimer 3: I'm not Robert Jordan, hence my writing ability is somewhat less than his. When I can write as powerfully as him I'll start my own series and capture the minds of millions around the world but until then bare with me.**

Waking again, I saw Lan looking down at me from the entrance of the tent, "You're awake," the words were not meant to be answered, and I suspected if I did that he would not even seem to notice.

I held out my hand for him to help me up, my clothes were still on me so Gai'shain had not come in since Moiraine had left. Lan took my hand, and I felt like my head was going to explode. Jerking involuntarily out of Lan´s grip, my whole body was in pain, my muscles seemed to be stretched to their limits. Vaguely I considered what was happening to me, and in that one part of my mind that wasn´t consumed by the pain that I was in I discovered the answer, however plausible it seemed at the time. My body was ´learning´and developing at a near impossible rate so that it was able and familiar with swordplay. My arms were in the most pain but the whole body was used when one moved through the forms that made up the deadly sport. Lan had dropped me when I jerked away and I realized that I was screaming, with both my hands going wrapped around my body to try and squeeze out the agony I was experiencing. Lan's iron grip took my hands away and held me down until Moiraine came hurtling into the tent, and was down on her knees and holding my head between her hands in an instant. I saw the glow and felt Saidar in her even through the agony, and as soon as I did the pain went away. Already laying down I couldn't collapse but did the next best thing, I slumped. All my energy had left me just like that, all the bother my body had gone to since Moiraine had knocked me unconscious to regain strength was wasted.

"What is going on?" My question was mirrored in both their eyes, "Every time I touch someone I go into fits, first you Moiraine, and now Lan. I-" stopping in mid sentence, I stared wonderingly at the Warder. I knew how to use a sword, I knew I was very good, "I, learned the sword from you." Moiraine withdrew from me as if I was something poisonous, Lan put himself between her and me, and I lay there for the entire world as if I was a child who had been given a treat. "I know Saidar, and the sword, I suppose if I touched Rand I would know Saidin. Is that what I do? Copy abilities from those I touch, or is it something more? I wonder what would happen if I touched Mat?" Realizing what I was saying, I jumped up, and backed away from the two of them. Well as much as it was possible to back away in a tent that wasn't really even big enough for the three of us. What was I? I remembered something, as if from a dream. A voice telling me to become it´s hand, but that wasn´t very helpful here. I might as well have seen a movie informing me that the Matrix was real or something.

The knowledge of how to touch Saidar was a part of me, and I imagined myself a flower waiting for the sun's warmth to open up into. It came easily and I was flooded with the pure joy of the female part of the True Source. With that awareness, and seeming foreknowledge of how do to something it took Novices in the White Tower weeks and sometimes months to do, I was aware of my limits. I knew instantly that I was much stronger in the power than the Aes Sedai infront of me, so much so that we could have been compared to a bear and a cat. That Aes Sedai was Moiraine though, and she looked about to sick up, and Lan had his sword drawn. Surrendering to the sheer awesome power of Saidar, I was able to bring it under my control and wove fire and air. What I had done was what novices were first taught when they began controlling the Source, a tiny fireball of black flame danced above my hand. A golden flame danced above my middle knuckle, and after focusing on it for a moment, completely oblivious to anything else, I made a second silver flame, and a third purple flame. It should have been impossible unless I was resurrected by the Dark One from a woman who could channel into a man's body. One of the Forsaken was the opposite, a man who had been brought back as a woman. I would rescue Egwene from her if this was not some deluded fantasy and I managed to live that long. Aran'gar and Osan'gar, two of the four Forsaken I knew had been brought back, or would be.

The fireball vanished when I saw a weave of Spirit come at me. I recognized the weave, even though I had never seen it before: Moiraine was trying to shield me! Fire, earth and spirit just so and, Moiraine flinched when I severed her weave. "Stop!" I put up my hands and let go of Saidar, the ache I felt when it left me made me feel half-alive, "I let go, just, don´t try to shield me." The light of Saidar around Moiraine winked out, and she stared at me so hard I wondered if she was trying to kill me with a look. It wasn't intimidating, at least I don't think it was, maybe men in this world were affected by looks that women threw around but this one didn't bother me. What did was the way that Lan was looking at me, Rand had compared him to a half-tame wolf before Moiraine's death, then said that he made wolves look like a sorry excuse for a wolf-hound after Moiraine was trapped in the ter'angreal that led to the Eelfinn. "I vow not to channel the Power without your assent until, well you can set the limitations." Moiraine's eyes did not change, nothing changed about her, except for a single drop of sweat that formed slightly below the blue crystal hanging from her hair on her forehead.

"Leave us Lan," the warder looked about to protest but then sheathed his sword, gave me a look that promised death should anything happen to her, and left the tent.

She shone with the light of Saidar once more and I watched her test her ward against eavesdroppers, and then the glow left her, "You said you would not embrace Saidar until, what? If you are right and you can, copy, other's abilities that would mean you aren't human and that begs the question of what you are. I would suggest that you tell me all that you know."

It was a feeling, rather than anything that she did, that let me know that if I didn't satisfy her curiosity she would try to take my head. Naturally I was opposed to the idea, I had just been endowed with the ability to channel the female half of the Power, and I was sure that if I touched Rand I would have Saidin. Searching through the skills I had gained from touching Moiraine, I almost fell to the ground. Only because I was pressed against the back of the tent, and then only just barely, did I manage to keep standing. I knew how to Travel, how to Skim, how to create the Mask of Mirrors to create illusions, a thousand different things that I knew for a fact that Moiraine did not know how to do. "What do you want to know exactly?" My voice was as calm and friendly as if I was talking to a good friend, a surprise, I very much doubted that I would be able to stand much longer if I didn't voluntarily sit down before my legs gave way.

"What happened when I touched you? For a moment your eyes seemed to light up in ecstasy then you screamed in pain."

"I felt, it´s difficult to explain, it felt like a dictionary was being forced into my head," she didn't know about dictionaries so she didn't know what I meant, "I mean, it felt like and entire language was being forced into my brain. Words I didn't recognize where pushed into my brain and I knew what they meant after they were there, as if I had known them all along. Then a sense of joy filled me, the pain didn't let me recognize it until now but it was pure joy. I felt as if I was being embraced by a friend that had missed me. Does any of this make sense to you? It was as if I was, not learning, but relearning things that I had forgotten. Things I once knew how to do were being brought back to me."

"No, but I believe you. What about with Lan?"

"When he took my hand my whole body felt as if it had been put through a meat grinder, my body was," It was then I remembered that I had already come to a conclusion of what I was doing when I touched people. Not copying, remembering. I was remembering how to speak the language, I was remembering how to channel Saidar and use a sword. "I´m remembering, and I seem to need to touch someone who already knows how before I can remember all of it."

"Saidar, what do you know? Did you copy my abilities precisely or do you have a rudimentary knowledge of how to wield it?" Her expression was intent, she was going to milk every last drop of information out of me before this was done.

"It's not like that, I didn't copy what you know, I know everything. I know how to Travel, I know how to make ter'angreal, angreal, and sa'angreal. I know how to Heal someone who's heart has stopped beating but are still able to be brought back. I can make weapons through the Power, I know how to Heal being stilled."

"Impossible, no one can Heal stilling." Her eyes had grown wide at the list I said I knew what to do, but now she didn't believe me.

"How do you know something is impossible? Just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it can't be done. I know how to, and I know the drawbacks of it as well." To say she was sceptical was like saying that being hit by a train might kill you. She didn't believe me, it was completely obvious. "Fine, you don't believe me? I'll prove some of what I said I can do." I looked at her, waiting.

"You really aren't going to channel unless I give you permission?" I nodded, "Very well, you can channel."

Embracing Saidar, I wove flows of Spirit into a gateway. It had to be small, the tent wasn't very large so I just made a box four feet by two in the air above Moiraine's blankets. "This is a gateway, it's not Traveling, you have to know the place you are better than the place you are going before you can Travel. This is a Skimming gateway, if I stepped through I would stand on something that would transport me to wherever I wanted to go. It takes time to get there, I don't know what I would travel through to get to another place but if I Skimmed to Caemlyn right now, it would only take me about a half hour to get there."

"You," her voice was unsteady, "you really do know."

"I wouldn't lie to you Moiraine," what? Why had I said that, and in such a soft voice? Searching for the reason I stumbled on it and froze, no it couldn't be that. Moiraine Damodred Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah was beautiful, but could I have a crush on her? I thought I could have if she had been real when I read the books, she was smart enough to have a conversation about something other than clothes or what movie she saw last weekend with her girlfriends. I had dated girls because I wanted to talk to them rather than for their looks, intelligence was much more important to me than beauty but she was both. A crush, it had to be that.

"How did you come to be here? Do you even know what happened to you?" Moiraine was looking at me so intently I wondered if she knew what I was thinking.

"I want you to believe me but I won't blame you if you don't, it's going to sound completely fantastical but it's the truth." She nodded assent and I told her about the Wheel of Time, the books I had read and to the best of my memory how I had been in a museum, seen a statue of Rand, and then ended up here. Her smooth Aes Sedai face never changed, but her eyes could not hide the incridulity at some of what I said. I told her everything I knew up to Rhuidean, and then waited for her to say something. I had left things out, I couldn't remember something's and I wasn't sure if others had happened yet. I didn't even know if I was in the Waste or in Cairhien. Rand had the dragons on his arms though, so they had been to Rhuidean.

Moiraine had sat quietly through the entire thing, I hoped she believed me, "You were right," it was an admission she did seem to want to speak, "if it were not so strange that it couldn't possibly have been concocted on the spot or even with a months preparation I would have laughed in your face." She said it so innocently I goggled at her for a moment before recovering. "I believe you, and not just because it is too much to be just a story. You know more, and yet you left out some matters that could hardly be said to be small or unimportant."

"I told you already," my exasperated tone made her quirk an eyebrow and I wondered if these facial expressions she used could actually quell anyone at all, "it's not as if I have a photographic memory, I don't remember all that I read about this and I certainly don't know everything that happened in-between what Robert Jordan decided to write. There were gaps in the story, and there are gaps in what I can remember. I read each book once, I can't be expected to remember what everyone thought or did after a certain event. I do know more of what is going to happen, but what happens if I do tell you? What would happen if I told you everything that would happen up until Rand suffers another grievous injury?" I kept things vague enough that I didn't really give anything away, just letting her know I did know more and was going to be dead set against giving any of it up. "I know that the Pattern will try to force things to happen a certain way, but if I told Rand that you will kill Lanfear," I stopped when she went white. Exhaling hard, I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand, "See, even though you believe me you still don't realize how much I know. I know about Mat's chance of rescuing you from the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, I know that you will give Thom a letter that will tell him not to show Mat until he asks for it. I know that Rand will survive up to a certain point, but the last book hasn't come out yet so I don't know if he will win. I imagine he would win, a series like this wouldn't end with the Dark One winning. Also at certain points in the books there are quotes from poetry or something like it that talk about what Rand will do or has done as if they have already happened, and always they are ended by whoever wrote them, in the Fourth Age. I understand that this is the Third Age?" Leaning back against the tent, I continued on before Moiraine could ask any questions, "If I do interfere in events, what then? If I had gone back further in this story and stopped the lot of you from getting driven into Aridhol, would the Trollocs have killed you? Or would Perrin become a wolf brother? Would any of you have survived to make it to the Eye of the World before the two Forsaken had regained their strength? You see my problem, you don't tell Rand of your future because he will try to change fate, I can't tell you the future because I might doom the world."

Moiraine looked at me consideringly, "Men in your world must be considerably more intelligent than in this world." I gawked at the compliment, and then remembered to close my mouth.

"When I read about you, read from your point of view, I always sympathised with you. I often wanted to smack Rand across the back of the head and tell him to listen to you, to confide in you. Now that I am here, maybe I can make a few changes, the Pattern will work with what I do. Mat will try to run from fate but he will still do as he must in the end." The look in her eyes now was unreadable, it was her eyes I had to watch. Her face could do anything she wanted it to, the smile was meant to set me off balance and it did, as much as the compliment had. The way she manipulated me, even now that I recognized it, was all to clever. "But I do recognize the need to keep things back, even from you, even from Rand. Even when I know the things I hold back will cause death and destruction." The situation I was in was obvious to both of us, I knew what was going to happen, and I could do nothing about it or else cause something else potentially devastating to happen when something only terrible would happen.

Somewhere during my confession of sympathy for her she had moved very close to me, and was kneeling not a hands width from me, "I wonder if I would have been able to do what you have done already, were I in your situation," she leaned towards me and kissed my cheek. I was stunned for a moment and my heart skipped a beat. It was a crush, nothing more! Not that I even dreamed that anything would happen more than a kiss on the cheek or an affectionate pat, the thought made my face burn because I wanted both to happen, but she was a woman. An Aes Sedai, almost double my age if my estimates were correct, but a woman. I shifted uncomfortably under the gaze she now held me with, perhaps this was one of the looks that had Rand, Mat, Perrin, and even Thom in such distress over.

She must have seen something of my thoughts in my eyes because she blushed! Was it real though? Or was it something else to throw me off balance? If it was real, if it was even partly real, I was willing to bet she would never put herself in this situation again unless she wanted more from me than information. "I, uh, um," all three of the protagonists in the story had become bumbling idiots at certain points in the books, and I had just done what I had wondered was even possible, "I can channel, can you tell how strong I am."

The shift in subject didn't seem to phase her at all, but there was still a tinge of red in her ageless face, "I cannot tell, you can touch Saidar and I saw the glow around you, I felt the Power in you, but now that you've let it go I can not feel the ability in you anymore than I could feel the ability to wield Saidin in Rand. If you can touch both, well you know as well as I that this has never happened before in the history of the Tower. And you also probably know that there is no record of anything like this happening in the histories we have recovered from the Age of Legends." My eyes wandered from her face, partly because her embarrassment had made me uncomfortable. She was wearing an elegant blue dress, probably silk though how anyone could tell was beyond me, embroidered with small silver vines up the sides. The dress came up to just under her neck, and the arms came to her wrists. Properly modest in this world, I wondered when I would get to see a Domani woman. If she hadn't noticed me giving her a look over she would have been blind, and completely unknowing of men at all, both of which she was not. I didn't get smacked, but the glow of Saidar surrounded her and I returned my eyes to her face.

"We are in Cairhien," again the shift in topics, but by her not me, "three days ride to the city of Cairhien, and then the battle with the Shaido." She was being far more casual, and less mysterious with me than I had ever remembered her being like in the books, but she had brought me up to speed on the situation. The tent seemed to close in around me, the glow of Saidar winked out of Moiraine, and she pressed me down onto the pallet that had probably been prepared for me. "Sleep now, I can see that you are tired." And just like that, I slept.

**I went and updated this chapter, keep a lookout for chapter 3 because I´m going to do some to it today.**


	3. Chapter 3 : Too Much, Not Enough

As soon as I fell asleep I knew I was in a weird dream. It wasn´t that I was in the land of candy-canes or something like that, it was that I was very aware of the fact that I was in a dream, and I usually wasn´t like that at all. Heck I hardly remembered most of my dreams in general. Looking around, I realized that I was where I had fallen asleep, in Moraine´s tent. I threw the thin blanket of a fabric I was unfamiliar with off me and took a look around. There was a small pit for a fire in the middle of the tent and two other pallets set down besides mine that kept flickering as if they were only an illusion. The tent itself seemed partially insubstantial and that was what gave it away.

A soft sound came from a little ways away outside the tent I was standing in, outside the tent I had fallen asleep in. Peeking out of the tent, I looked around for the source of the voices and found nothing, just more tents. I didn't trust myself not to make noise walking, so I floated horizontally only a foot off the ground, flying towards where the voices were coming from. Why not? It was a dream after all!

The voices stopped when I drew close enough to see who it was, two women in white blouses and bulky skirts were looking at a young women wearing the same. The two together were older, one had white hair, I could only see them from their backs, and the other's hair was golden red. Amys and Melaine, possibly, and the third must have been Egwene al'Vere, future Amyrlin Seat of the rebel Aes Sedai. Had the Tower split yet? I was pretty sure they had, Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan had taken the White Tower through trickery, deception, and the bending of wills to suit her fancy. I did not like her one bit. I watched them for a time, and none of them said anything. Then Egwene looked right at me, my heart skipped a beat, and she pointed. All three embraced Saidar and channelled flows of Air to bind me, Egwene even threw a shield at me, but I suspected that it was just to be safe. I embraced Saidar, and the three of them looked as shocked as it was possible to be. Using the weave I had when Moiraine had tried to shield me, I cut their flows and fled. I tried to imagine a crystal sword, one that had been thrust into the floor a fortress shaped like a dome. When the world stopped being a blur, I was standing in front of Callandor. I felt, more than anything else anyway, the appearance of the two Wise Ones and Egwene. They had hold of the Power and all three tried to shield me from Saidar. I lashed out with the weave to cut flows and the shields were banished, more came at me, and I cut them. The only way I could think to stop this was to shield them, and then hold them with flows of air to keep them from stepping out of Tel'aran'rhiod. While slashing madly at their weaves, I wove three shields and slammed them against the women. Air came after, binding them tightly. Shock was the only expression on their faces. The next weapon they would use was their minds, Tel'aran'rhiod was a dream after all, and what your mind believed was real became real as long as you concentrated on it.

"Don't," I said, holding up my hands as if to surrender, "I want to talk, I'll unshield you if you don't attack me. If you attack," I didn't continue with that. Egwene was a beautiful girl, big dark eyes drew my own to them, her sun-darkened face was soft and smooth. Amys was young looking, but grandmotherly in presence even if she did look to be only a young woman. Melaine was handsome in the female fashion, and both she and Amys were glaring at me hard enough that I was sure they could knock any man that lived in this world off his feet. Egwene seemed torn between curiosity and horror. A man who could channel Saidar! Well at least that's what I thought she was thinking.

"If you are going to release us get on with it!" Amys' voice was as hard as I had expected. The flows I was holding vanished when I let go of Saidar, and another look of surprise came over the three women. "You're clothes," Amys had apparently not been to distracted by the fact that I was able to channel Saidar to see that I was wearing clothing completely foreign to this world, "you are the young man the Maidens found outside Rand al'Thor's tent are you not?"

Melaine and Egwene looked at each other and then Amys, but it seemed that Egwene had regained her supposed Aes Sedai cool, and Melaine hadn't given anything away except for when I had embraced and let go of Saidar. I nodded, and looked back at Callandor over my shoulder.

Egwene looked as though she wanted to talk to me alone, I wanted to talk to her too, but not before Moiraine had spoken to her. The two Wise Ones were looking at each other in a way that suggested they were exchanging an entire conversation without words, and so it didn't look as though I was trying to intrude on that conversation, I took a look around. The Heart of the Stone was huge, with massive columns and an impossibly high ceiling, it could have easily fit several thousand people inside it. The Stone must be monstrous for this just to be one part of it.

"You can enter Tel'aran'rhiod unaided?" My nod sent them looking at each other again, Amys seemed to be in charge because she was the only one who had spoken so far. "You channel Saidar, but you are clearly not a woman unless you are disguising yourself. Your lack of control would suggest you are very good at disguising your skill as well as your appearance, or you, a man, can channel Saidar."

I looked down at my clothing, if I was a dreamwalker I would need to gain control over my thoughts. Even while I was looking at them my clothing flashed between shirts I owned, my pants changed from different styles of jeans to different colors, I wore suits and other clothes, but never the same thing for more than a few moments. "It seems I need to work on keeping things steady in my mind, but I don't suppose it would be possible with what has happened in the past few hours." The three of them were looking at me levelly when I was able to make myself wear only what I had been wearing when I went to sleep. I wasn't sure if my socks were changing or not but I couldn't see them and it didn't matter, and if they were, these three would probably put me into braids and a short dress if I started acting foolish trying to make it all stop. Barking a laugh, I held my clothing in mind and didn't even try to imagine what I would look like with braids and a short skirt.

"Moiraine Sedai said that both Saidin and Saidar were used when you appeared, and too closely meshed for them to be separate weaves," Amys' voice seemed like a razor, trying to cut away at any resistance before it began. I say it seemed like a razor because I recognized that she was trying to use the methods I had read about, but all it made me do was smile at the attempt.

"She said they were used in unison, complete unison, and that should be impossible. The two sides work together and against, not in unison."

Melaine had nodded before she realized what she was doing, and then glared at me as if I had made her do it, Amys spoke again, "If you can enter Tel'aran'rhiod as we do, and Moiraine has not killed you, then we will speak to you out of the dream." The three of them winked out of existence.

Oh Light! I laughed at myself when I realized what I had said, I was already adopting their way of speech. Gazing around at the chamber in the Stone of Tear that had held the sword that is not a sword, I didn't realize there was anyone else there until a hand rested on my shoulder. Jumping near out of my skin, and whirled around and had embraced Saidar before I knew who it was. Egwene was standing there in a green silk riding dress, how did I know that, her skirts were divided for riding. Duh.

"Egwene," her name popped out of my mouth before I remembered that she didn't know me.

"You know my name, you know Tel'aran'rhiod, and Moiraine hasn't had Lan kill you yet. Who are you."

"My name is Taylor," her eyebrow arched in the exact way Moiraine's had done. "Don't bother with your Aes Sedai coolness, are we alone or are Amys and Melaine watching."

Egwene jumped when I named the Wise Ones, then peered up at me even more intently than she had when I had released Saidar the first time. "We are alone, they have gone to speak with Moiraine."

"Good, then don't bother to pretend to be Aes Sedai with me," her face paled a touch, then re-colored and her face set, her fists went to her hips and it looked as though she was going to give me a tongue lashing for a crime I did not know I had committed. Riding over her before she could so much as start talking I almost had to yell at first to make her close her mouth, "I know you've been masquerading as Green Ajah, so don't bother trying to tell me you are a full sister. If Moiraine hasn´t killed me yet at least talk to her before you decide to cast judgement on me, I need to get to sleep before I waste the night away and wake up tired."

Egwene looked outraged, I hadn't even let her speak, I was about to turn away when a full armed slap took me across the jaw. It happened again, my head felt like it was going to explode with all the information that felt as if it was being crammed in. Now however, I recognized the difference in that it was being forced out of a hidden part of my mind. Agony tore at my brain, and I fell to the ground howling in pain. Hands pressed against the sides of my head I tried to force the pain out, I felt other hands take mine and tried wrestle them away from my head. And just like that the pain was gone. I looked up at Egwene and smiled. I stepped out of the dream.

Moiraine was looking down at me again when I awoke, I spoke before she could, "Do you ever sleep?"

She shook her head in a admonishing way, "You were thrashing in your sleep, and speaking in the Old Tongue."

"I was in Tel'aran'rhiod, it seems I'm a male dreamwalker," Moiraine didn't give anything away but I expected she was slightly surprised, "I saw Egwene and two of the Wise Ones, Amys and Melaine, and they followed me to the Stone of Tear. I think I've managed to attract the attention of everyone I didn't want to." My sigh seemed to summon the Wise Ones and they bustled into the tent. "Speak of the devil." My choice of words drew a confused look from Moiraine but the two Wise Ones embraced Saidar as one and threw a shield at me. I had a choice to make then, one I had really already made except for finding out the stipulations. I wasn´t to channel without Moiraine´s express permission, I didn´t count channeling in Tel'aran'rhiod. I let them shield me.

Shielded, it was strange to be shielded. I felt tentatively against the barrier that had me cut off from Saidar, felt all over it, and then racked my brain for knowledge of how to remove it. As if it only needed thinking of, the solution came to my mind. There were two points where the weaves were coming from, attached to the Wise Ones, and soft points that were supposedly not able to be broken unless you could overpower the one shielding you. Unfortunately for them I had gained more than just what Moiraine had learned about the Power, I knew everything that could be known if I only had the need and thought of it. I made a drill with the ability to touch the Source, and pressed it delicately against where the two soft points of the shield met. Surging against it with all my might should have broken a hole in their shield without hurting them and would have allowed me to touch the source unhindered. I wanted to try so badly.

"Release him," Moiriane told the Wise Ones, "I have his word of honor that he will not channel unless I give him my permission."

"Release me children," all three women stared at me, I wanted to stare at me! My mouth and voice were working without me doing anything! I spoke against my will now, I wasn´t even able to move my hands to demonstrate my distress, "The Aes Sedai has told you the truth and I do not wish to make her a liar." My voice was cold as ice, there was an emotion burried within the cold of the tone, I thought I recognized amusment! "I have not come to a full knowledge of my reawakened powers as of yet, but as it stands, you can not hold me against my will." Whatever had taken control of my body, used my voice in that was left me and I caught myself before I fell from the sitting position I had gotten into.

Amys stared at me, Melaine stared me, Moiraine stared at me, and I wanted to rewind my life up to when I had decided to go backpacking through Europe and smack myself. Before either of them could speak the Aes Sedai did, "I believe that he is more than he appears, I would suggest releasing him." Their faces went stony, but Moiraine kept going before they could get a word in, "He was not like that before, I suspect, as his face is displaying now, that he does not even truly understand everything yet."

Considering what had happened, and what I knew of Wise Ones, I expected them to get even more stubborn. The two Wise Ones shared a glance, then almost peacefully, Amys responded, "Of course Aes Sedai," the stoniness gone from her face.

Melaine looked as startled with Amys' change in tactics as I felt. "Good," Moiraine was all business, "you know that he was found an hour after sundown, and I brought him here. He can touch Saidar though how neither he nor I know how." "He just told me that he can touch Tel'aran'rhiod and that the two of you and Egwene tried to restrain him there. More than that I do not know, he claims not to be of this world but he will say no more." Looking over at her with a smile, I remembered that the women I was in front of were probably as good at reading faces as Aes Sedai, so I buried the smile in a blank expression.

"He will say no more on where he comes from, can touch Saidar, and you leave him alone for most of the night and let him sleep?" Melaine seemed unable to take the acid in her tone away. "A man who can channel Saidar, a man that can enter Tel'aran'rhiod unaided, a man that appears in the night with a combination of Saidar and Saidin that should not be possible, a man that may be mascaurading as such and hiding one of the Forsaken. He appears three days before we engage the Shaido and you have let him dissuade you from," she seemed to remember I was still there and cut off abruptly. Amys looked ready to tear Melaine's head off for the slip. What slip though, was anyone´s guess.

"What I do to get information out of him is none of your concern. He is not a threat to Rand, and therefore nothing for you to worry about." Moiraine's dismissive gesture would have made anyone bristle. Fortunately the Wise Ones were wise in more than name, and rose to leave. I couldn't believe that this was happening, Moiraine was defending me, the Wise Ones were giving up an argument as if they were able to be pushed around by anyone, and I was still alive.

The tent flaps shut, and I looked around and saw the warding against eavesdroppers still in place, "Thank you."

"For what?" For an Aes Sedai, she was not being cool or mysterious around me. The look of innocence on her face looked about as foreign on her as horror would on Lan. The look left, replaced by one of a stern teacher expecting an explaination from a disobedient student, "I will have you tell me what just happened however."

Looking a little beyond her, I tried to figure it out for myself. I had lost control of my body, and something else had spoken through me. But, at the same time I felt as if I had said the words of my own volition. It was more than something else, it was, weird.

"If I said I had no idea, that you know exactly as much as I do right now, would you believe me?" I asked her.

"I would, but if you have any insights as to your change in attitute like you had with your unique method of, re-learning things, be sure to inform me."

I nodded in compliance, she was the authority here, and I really didn´t have many other options.

Changing subjects seemed a good idea, "When I embrace Saidar can you tell how strong I am, or my potential?" She nodded, "Okay, can I?" Surprise marred her features, then nodded, a smile forming on her face. Embracing Saidar seemed completely natural to me, it felt like something I had been doing my entire life rather than half of a single night. The Power rushed into me and I felt the joy and absolute bliss of Saidar try to overpower my senses, the amount of the Power I was holding seemed limitless. Without having to be told how, I measured myself against Moiraine´s ability in the Power and was shocked at the massive gap between us. Moiraine was one of the most powerful Aes Sedai alive, the more powerful could be counted on two hands if I wasn´t mistaken, and I overshadowed her by so much!

"So much," Moiraine's voice seemed very small, "your potential is incredible! I had thought Nynaeve's potential was the limit, except for the Forsaken, but your potential exceeds hers by so much more." She looked at me in astonishment, and I was just as surprised. Considering that I had easily brushed aside her shield, as well as the Wise Ones and Egwene's, it should have been a possibility. Lan burst into the tent, looked at Moiraine and I and then again at Moiraine. "He has not shielded me Lan, he has kept his promise." The promise was not to embrace Saidar without her permission. Lan relaxed, which was to say he seemed slightly less likely to draw his sword and take off my head than he was a moment before. "You may stay if you like, but we are done talking." Lan nodded, I had only heard him say a few words, and it didn't look as though he was going to say any more.

Pointedly ignoring me, Moiraine wove a hazy field of air around her and she stripped out of her dress. My heart pumped a little faster when I realized all I had to do was cut her weave and I would see her in her shift. No! I had promised, and I was not going to act like a desperate fool trying to get a look at a naked woman. I lay down and turned away from her and Lan before more disgusting thoughts popped into my mind. Muttering to myself as quietly as possible, I tried to rationalize all that had happened. Naturally I failed, and using the knowledge I had gained as dreamwalker when Egwene had touched me, I put myself to sleep. Real sleep.

Lying awake, but unwilling to open my eyes, I listened to Moiraine and Lan talking, "He is dangerous Moiraine, whether or not he actually means harm he is dangerous. If what he thinks is right, anyone he touches will give him all the knowledge of their trade, or all the skills they posses. I wouldn't be surprised if he started running around camp touching everyone he saw just so he could learn. He said he could feel Saidin in Rand, is it possible he's lying and he is the one who transported himself here?"

"He is not lying," Moiraine's tone left no room for argument, "he is leaving things out, not telling me everything, but he is not lying. The tale he told me would have a tavern of drunks laughing at him, he couldn't have come up with that story on the spot and I don't think anyone would be able to come up with something so elaborate anyway."

Still with my eyes closed I silently thanked Moiraine. If there was someone I could trust it was her, she was completely devoted to seeing Rand survive to fight in, and hopefully win the Last Battle. "And you still maintain your position? Will you not tell me his story so I can be as sure as you? I trust you Moiraine but even you have made bad decisions and this," I could feel him gesture towards me, "if this turns out badly there could be serious consequences."

"If he turns out to be a type of savior? If through his intervention he manages to alter the Pattern enough to allow Rand to defeat the Dark One in Tarmon Gai'don is it not worth the risk? He knows so much Lan, so much that can help me. If more than me knew his story would he be able to do anything? If the Forsaken discover that he knows the course the Pattern will weave won't they try to kill him?"

"He truly knows so much? If he knows the future why not kill him now? If things change then maybe Rand won't win at Tarmon Gai'don, if his knowledge changes something that he has seen happen," Lan left the rest unsaid, the domino effect, or even the slippery-slope principle. One thing leading to another and another until nothing is like I read about, or else I change something and then I can't stop changing things. It was something I had considered while I was observing my dreams, for example: If I stopped Nynaeve capturing Moghedien, events wouldn't occur so that her block would be broken and she might never be able to wield the Power without being angry. If I told Rand that the emissary from Elaida was going to shield him and carry him off to the Tower in a chest, the Shaido would not suffer a devastating defeat and the Aes Sedai would not swear fealty to him. If I told him Alanna Mosvani was going to bond him her warder he might not survive the attack at Dumai's Wells because the Aes Sedai would think him in Cairhien.

"Lan, if he makes small changes the Pattern will make changes to see that the same things he knows will still happen. I want him to aid in the battle against the Shaido, he told me we will win and I believe him, but having him aid in the battle will not change the outcome."

"It will change things! If one man or woman doesn't die their lives will send ripples down the Pattern just as their deaths will, if the battle is won a second before or after things will change!"

"Have faith in the weaving of the Pattern Lan, I will use any advantage I can to see that Rand defeats the Dark One, and he is too much an advantage not to use."

I was another piece on the stones board, another pawn in chess. I yawned loudly and rolled over to face them, giving them ample time to stop their conversation. "No light under the tent flaps? At least I haven't overslept."

"You have not been asleep for more than an hour, and you look as well rested as if you had slept the entire night," Lan looked at Moiraine and she ignored the look, she embraced Saidar and delved me. After a moment she released me and Saidar together, "If I didn't know better I would say that you would need only a few hours rest if you had been fighting all day."

Her eyes were searching again, trying to look inside me and figure out what made me tick, "Well that would be to my advantage then!" My cheerful manor did not lighten the mood in the tent. "I'm Taylor, by the way," my name! This whole time and I had only given my name to Egwene.

"Taylor," Moiraine felt the name on her tongue, then stood up and left the tent, Lan right behind her.

I slumped, what was I going to do? Lan was right, just my presence was bound to change things. If I saved lives in the battle against the Shaido the Pattern would have to shift to accommodate them, if I changed events enough to throw the Pattern off enough I may doom the world to the Dark One. Slumping, I noticed I wasn't wearing my old clothes. My clothes now, were simple. A grey shirt that was drab enough to point me out as a commoner, brown pants that matched the quality of the shirt, and boots that I knew I was going to have to walk in all day to get used to. That was, if I could keep pace with the Aiel. Three days from Cairhien and I was possibly going to throw a wrench in the gears that wove the Wheel of Time. Wonderful.


	4. Chapter 4 : Cairhein

With those thoughts I soon found myself riding in a horse that didn't seem to like me behind Moiraine and getting enough stares from the Aiel, Rand, Mat, Egwene, and the Wise Ones I wished I could become invisible. I could have, if Moiraine had let me embrace Saidar, but I didn't even bother to ask her.

Hadnan Kadere was with his wagons trailing behind the massive army of Aiel that followed Rand, the Car'a'carn. I had not seen Isendre yet and was wondering what the darkfriend looked like. I was wondering about alot of things right then, and rubbing my cheek where I had cut myself rather badly trying to shave this morning. If I had thought about it I would have asked Moiraine if I could channel it off but I had never used the Power for anything before and it didn´t occur to me then to use it that way. It did now, and I had already asked her for permanent permission to use the Power to shave. Oh the joys of life, I missed indoor plumbing the most.

It wasn´t just a change of lifestyle however, I had changed to. I could have run all the way to Cairhien with the Aiel that had gone ahead of us to scout out conditions. My body seemed to have changed overnight, or when I appeared in this world. My face was the same, women claimed I was handsome with pale blue eyes, light blonde hair cut short, and an almost dangerous look to my face that belied my normally good-natured attitude. It must have been the dangerous look that made women think I was handsome, it might have been more but I had never stared at myself in the mirror and tried to figure out what women looked for to name a man handsome. I was tall, but against the Aiel I was only slightly short, and I had broad shoulders from the transformation I seemed to have undergone. I was well muscled now, more than well muscled if I had been home, but here I was just well muscled. Perhaps most startling was my ears, it took me a while to realize that the Aiel weren't staring at my head just because I had dropped out of thin air, they were staring at my head because my ears came to sharp points at the tips like an elf! My ears weren't long or anything, they just ended in points. More than just appearance had changed though, I was faster, quicker in thought, and had more endurance than I could have dreamed. I chose to ride about half way through the morning when the stares I was getting from my ability to keep up with the Aiel became more than glancing. I knew where some of these changes had come from, however I had gained (or re-learned) the ability to weild a sword with more than adequite skill literally changed my whole body to allow me to do it. My reflexes were astounding, and in the early morning when Lan went through the forms in a quick refresher (for him, to anyone else except Rand it would have been exhausting) I realized I knew the forms. What scared me, along with many other things that morning, was that I found the forms to be lacking! I tried to analyse what I was thinking and realized that I was far more familiar with a different kind of style of swordplay.

Rand reigned his horse back and rode beside me for a time, jolting me from my current train of thought, and Aviendha was walking beside him in a white blouse and bulky skirts. Rand was lucky, she was beautiful. With red hair that had grown to her shoulders now, it framed a lovely sun-tanned face, for a moment I envied that he had slept with her, then brought my mind out of the gutter. "Moiraine told me some of what you discussed last night," he was feeling me out, trying to decide how to react to me.

"I expected as much," Aviendha glared at me, why though I wasn't sure of. "Did you have to order her, or did she tell you on her own?"

"She claims, and I believe her, that," my comment must have finally clicked because his face hardned into stone and his eyes became far more calculating than I thought was possible except for an Aes Sedai. "That you know events that will happen, and know a great deal about was has past." Silence fell between us and I noticed that several of the Wise Ones that had been giving me a wide berth had moved closer to try and overhear our conversation. My head snapped towards Egwene when I felt her weave a flow for eavesdropping and she looked startled, the light of Saidar winked out from around her and she looked slightly abashed.

"You understand my dilemma then?" Rand nodded, "If I change things about the future I know, it may not be the future that happens, no matter how hard the Pattern tried to pull it towards the way I know things."

Slightly browning grass was the only thing to look at besides the Aiel, which I had grown bored of after the first two hours of walking with them. Now and then there was a tree sticking defiantly out of the ground, and even rarer there was a copse of trees as if by joining together they sent a stronger message. "Would you be willing to help anyway?"

Startled, I looked at him carefully for a moment before answering, "If it meant me staying alive, and not destroying this world," I didn't say more but Rand kept silent until I spoke again, "I would be more than willing to help with things that will happen anyway, but if I change things others won't happen and even if something horrible happens it would be devastating for the effect of what happens not to."

"I want you to change something, do something that will change things. If the Pattern forces the effect to happen anyway, I want you to play a more active role in events."

I hadn´t thought of that.

The urge to reach out and touch him, to take the knowledge of Saidin from him was almost overpowering. I saw Moiraine look back at us and I knew she knew what I was thinking. "What do you want me to change? I don't know what I do won't send ripples through the Pattern and change things so much I will be no more help than if I didn't know anything at all."

"I want you to use the Power in the battle against the Shaido, I've asked Egwene to, and if you can use the Power it would help if you were there with her." He wasn't looking at me, the whispers that he was using were almost too soft for me to hear. Whispering back and forth since I noticed the Wise Ones trying to overhear our conversation had caused several to try riding right between us to hear what we were talking about. We didn't let them interrupt us but we stopped whenever one or another got too close.

He wanted me to use Saidar, had Moiraine told him how powerful I was? Did he know I was probably strong enough to shield him? Did he even suspect the Maidens would hustle him into the wooden tower that held the telescopes to help Egwene and Ahiendha. "Fine," before I could stop him Rand reached out to clasp my shoulder. His finger brushed against exposed skin left by the lack of a collar on my shirt.

"No!" Moiraine had turned around and yelled at Rand just as he touched me. I convulsed, the agony in my head was more than it had been with Egwene, and more than Moiraine's. My body, specifically my mind, was remembering how to channel Saidin. Memories of channeling the Power in ways I´d never dreamed of were shoved into the forefront of my mind. If this was what I had to go through each time I wanted to learn something from another's mind and beyond, Lan had nothing to fear.

My hands, acting on their own accord, tried to squeeze the information back out of my mind, or at least to stop the pain from destroying me. I fell from the horse and continued in my agony even as I hit the ground. The Aes Sedai was beside me in a heartbeat, Lan only a hairsbreadth behind. When she touched my head, the pain vanished and I was able to stand up before she had even tried to lift me. It had happened so fast that only the Wise One´s who were trying to overhear Rand and I´s conversation saw it. Panting slightly, I was going to get up on my own when I saw Moiraine´s offered hand. I wasn´t sure why she was offering to help me up when I outweighed her by at least 60lbs. I took it though, she always did things for a reason and as I did I found out why.

She leaned to whisper in my ear, "Saidin is tainted, remember that."

Saidin and Saidar, male and female halves of the True Source that powered the Wheel of Time and drove the spinning of the Pattern. Men who could channel the One Power could touch Saidin, women touched Saidar. I could touch and wield both now. I could sense both before Moiraine had touched me and after I was able to use the female half of the Power, now that Rand had touched me I could wield Saidin. I wondered, absently, as I was getting on my horse again, if I could have learned them if I had not absorbed the knowledge from the two. Would I have been considered to have the spark already in me? Destined to channel whether I wanted to or not?

What was I? Riding in silence, I pondered the possible unanswerable question. So it went for three days, Rand came to talk to me about what I could do in the battle and didn't seem to talk about anything else whenever I was around. The Aiel avoided me as if I was a Tinker, and if Egwene had left me alone I would have almost been happy. The woman was insufferable! Being pretty was no indication of the stubbornness that lay beneath those big, brown, and oh so annoying eyes. She had rode up beside me on the second day and began asking me innocent questions that led to who I was, where I was from, what I knew, and then turned into her screaming at me that I answer her. After I had realized that she was trying to figure me out I had given her short, suitably Aes Sedai answers, and it infuriated her to no end. I ended up being pummelled with flows of Air for a few minutes before Moiraine came to my rescue. She seemed amused, amused! That I had not defended myself, and asked me why I hadn't used Saidin to stop her.

"Because the promise I made extends to Saidin as well, I never expected you to think I would use a loophole like that." Moiraine had almost, almost, looked indignant, but Egwene had been beside me when she asked me and she did not use the Power against me after that. Not that it stopped her from badgering me from sun up to sun down for answers she was sure I would give up if she only pestered me enough. I tolerated her because she was the only person that wasn't treating me like I was something they wanted dead but didn't know how to go about it. When I told her that, she was flustered for a few minutes, a few blessed minutes of silence, then resumed her questions.

Moiraine was a completely different story, in public she was Aes Sedai to her toenails. In private, she acted as though we were old friends and treated me like a bother sometimes and other times I wondered whether or not she thought of me as a suitor. She batted her eyelashes at me when I got stubborn, and patted my cheek when I did or said something thoughtful. It seemed as if she was flirting, but why would she do that? I told her whatever she wanted to know about anything other than what was going to happen, it didn't seem possible for me to say no when she asked. The thought occurred to me that this was another way for her to manipulate me because I already knew how she manipulated Rand and the others, but right after that she brushed my hair out of my face and it flew out of my mind. Women made ABSOLUTELY no sense.

In the tower Rand had built for observation purposes, I watched the massive armies that had been assembled outside of Cairhien. At the same time I knew Mat was trying to slip away from the battle and would be caught by the Pattern if I hadn't changed things already and end up killing Couladin in combat. The Red Hand would be born again today, even if no one knew it, as long as I hadn't changed anything. Rand was there with Egwene and Aviendha so that hadn't changed, but I wondered if I had changed things when I told him of Sammael's future attack.

"Taylor," Rand's voice was emotionless in the void, "I hope that you don't change things too greatly today."

It was something he had said before, except that he always said that he hoped I didn't change things too greatly in the days to come. I was hoping for the same thing but I wasn't sure if he meant it.

The grassy fields that stretched to the city of Cairhien would be covered with Aiel from eight clans before much longer. Seven with Rand, and the Shaido with dissenters from all eleven clans, even those sworn to Rand as the Car'a'carn. Rand believed I could only wield Saidar, but I could wield both, and I could wield them together. I had discussed it with Moiraine the night after Rand had touched me and given me the knowledge of how to use Saidin, she had given me permission to use the Power that night and I had used both at once. Moiraine had felt nothing, but I weaved flows with the two sides of the Source together to form fire, create illusion, and make other things happen that could not possibly be slight of hand. I was much stronger when I unified both sides of the Power, so I was probably capable of using the same amount of power that even Rand would need a sa'angreal for. I had permission to use Saidar today, not Saidin. Moiraine was adamant that I not use both together until she killed Lanfear in Cairhien, after the display of my strength she had expressly forbid me from using the two in unison until I pointed out that it was an advantage and she had agreed that I should use it. Only after she was 'dead' though, if one of the Forsaken discovered my presence or what I could do it might scare them enough to present a unified force and crush Rand and me at once. They could do it. They knew a vast amount about the Power and there were many more of them and they were all very strong in the Power.

"I heard Melaine say that you bring change to everything." That was what Aviendha had said in the book.

"I do that," The last words Rand had spoken before climbing into the tower to fight the Shaido with the Power. "The Light help me, that I do."

But he had addressed me after that, I had changed something. The clouds gathered, I saw Egwene and Aviendha using the power to effect the weather and begin the battle. I wove flows of my own, nothing too extravagant because despite the fact that I could, I really didn´t want to use all of my Power. I had the ability to decimate all of Couladin´s armies, but what would happen if I did? Groups of Shaido were blown into the air when I channelled, the ground exploding underneath their feet. Lightning flashed from the sky, compliments of Egwene and Aviendha, Rand followed suit and I saw the weaves he used to call down lightning. Whole area's of battlefield were devastated by our channelling, but we had to be more selective when the two sides mingled. It wasn't as simple as picking out which were which, I couldn't tell the difference between the Shaido and the other clans and I doubted Rand or Egwene could. When that happened I asked Aviendha to point out to me groups of Shaido on their own, and the devestation continued.

Sammael's attack came later on in the day, I was ready for it and so was Rand. We both cut at the flows of Fire and Air that would have become the lightning that destroyed this tower and killed many Maidens in the process. Periodically the Forsaken attacked again, at different parts of the field, with different methods, but each time either Rand or myself sensed them coming and one or the other or both of us slashed Sammael's weaving.

Looking over the battlefield, I stared in amazement at the death and destruction. Thousands of lives had been ended thus far in the battle, I was still weaving Saidar whenever Aviendha pointed out a group of Shaido alone, when I saw the gates of Cairhien open and horsemen come charging out. "Idiots!" I cursed, which caused Rand and Egwene (it was her turn to channel) to turn in the direction I was looking.

"What can they hope to do?" Egwene asked, and Aviendha took a place beside her.

"They feel useless hiding in the city," Rand explained, "either that or they think they can overpower Aiel on horseback."

Aviendha flicked her hair back letting all of us know her opinion of that. As if agreeing with her, a group of Shaido broke off from a battle they were headed towards to attack the mounted Cairhien morons. The two groups were a ways away from each other but Aiel could run as fast as horse could so it would be a matter of moments before the two clashed. The only thing that kept the Shaido away from the walls up to this point were the clans with Rand, and the threat of the defenders arrow´s.

Rand, Egwene and Aviendha were exhausted as it was and I wasn´t sure if they were going to be able to do anything to help. Lightning now would take time and end up killing both sides, a fireball would be even more useless. I cursed the need, but wove quickly and hoped that neither Egwene or Aviendha would be paying enough attention to me to follow the complexity of what I was creating. Fire, Earth, Water, Air and Spirit all in portions with more Earth and Water than the others. I finished the weave and released it in the gap between the two forces and a massive mirror appeared between them. Watching the three gawk at what I had done, I waited for what would happen next.

It was the books that had given me the idea in the first place, and having the knowledge of how to do it made it possible. The two armies approached the mirror, the Cairhiens would see a massive wall infront of them with instructions to go back to the city, the Shaido Aiel watched in horrid facination as a reflection of their own army walked out of the mirror!

"The miasma," Rand breathed. The reflection Aiel latched on to their respective Aiel counterparts and began drawing strength from them. The real Aiel were quick to catch on to this and began attempting to destroy the Power created monstrosities but without the Power themselves, they were unable to hurt the reflections. Fortunately enough the Cairhiens decided that the use of the Power to do what had been done was encouragement enough to return to the city and they did so in a hurry.

"What did you do Taylor? I can´t see the individual weaves from this far away but that is massively complex!" Egwene asked.

"Don´t bother yourselves about it, I shouldn´t have used it," with that I forcefully dispelled the weave and the few remaining Aiel ran off to join themselves to another group of Shaido. Dead Aiel littered the ground around where the mirror had been, and the four of us resumed channeling normally.

Panting lightly after laughing so hard, it was nearly dusk, I looked over to see Aviendha staring at me. She didn't say anything, didn't even move until Egwene came and she moved over so the other woman could sit beside her, but I was sure she was trying just as hard as Egwene to figure me out. It was done, finally. I had started laughing from sheer relief that things happened as I had read, the Shaido were defeated and ran to the mountains and the other four clans had stayed out of the battle. Sammael had not been able to effect the course of the battle because of both Rand and myself. The Dragon Reborn was panting just as hard as Egwene and Aviendha, I wasn't even tired, and staring at me with the same intensity that the women were.

"How did you do that?" Rand's question was cold, he was still in the void, but I knew what he wanted to know.

Looking Rand in the eyes, I waited for a moment before responding, "If I want to explain my actions to you, I´ll let you know. Until then, use my help to your advantage." I left the tower after that, but waited around the bottom where the wounded were. I would be needed here.

"He´s not tired, how can he not be tired after channelling so much?" Egwene's question was one she had asked herself several times during the day, apparently Rand had not been paying any attention to the talking.

A Maiden popped into the tower, and looked at each of them in turn before going back down the ladder to the ground. Far Dareis Mai were in charge of defending the Car'a'carn, and they took the responsibility very seriously. The battle was won, with thousands of Shaido taken Gai'shain, and the rest driven farther into Cairhien, the battle had gone mostly the same as it had in the book. One thing that changed was it ended sooner, and I hoped desperately that word would come of Couladin's death by Mat's hand.


	5. Chapter 5 : Thoughts and Randomness

So I was thinking hard about redoing this part of the story, it's hard to follow and it jumps from subject to subject as fast as I could get it into the word processor

**So I was thinking hard about redoing this part of the story, it's hard to follow and it jumps from subject to subject as fast as I could get it into the word processor. I don't really care now though, I did but not anymore. After the story gets going things will be more linear, more straightforward and easier to follow but for this chapter Taylor just does a lot of thinking and things basically grind to a halt before the big news that comes with the next chapter.**

Life was different in this world, chamber pots were a big change from toilets, scrubbing my teeth with salt and soda was another. I never realized how nice toothpaste was before this. Not to mention the fact that the female servants in the Sun Palace kept flashing smiles and other obvious looks when they thought I was looking at them. It came out eventually that I was a friend of the Dragon Reborn, Moiraine had tried to hide me from the nobles but soon enough I was swarmed by eager men and women trying to get any information out of me they could about Rand and his plans. Tairen nobles were the worst, but the Ladies of either country were forward to the point of throwing themselves on me, well not them exactly. No less than twelve pretty young faces came to my door asking if I would like some company. I didn't remember Mat having to go through this, but then he had Melindhra to handle women that might come after him. I spoke to Rand about it, and he told me of the several attempts to tie girls to him as well. Not bothering to tell him I already knew about it and just wanted him to know that I was a big piece in Daes Dae'mar, I left it at that and returned to my room.

I had told Moiraine as well and she had tisked irritably, there was something else in her expression but I wasn't sure what it was. It never ceased to amaze me that she seemed completely at ease with me, never bothering to act as an Aes Sedai at all. It also unnerved me, she had maneuvered me into making several decisions I did not even know she had mentioned until it was over and done with. The woman needed someone to distract her! Me maybe? The thought had crossed my mind several times, and each time I did the same thing I had with the last, stomped it flat, tore it apart and blew away the pieces. It kept coming back though, no matter how much I tried to remind myself that she was Aes Sedai and had no such thoughts about me. I was becoming worried that I was falling in love with her. The very thought of either sent me into gibbering fits if I was talking to anyone and they seemed to be popping into my mind more and more often of late.

The hallway to my room was empty, and heaving a sigh of relief I went into my room. Twice now the girls who were supposed to attach themselves to me seemed to have lost themselves in the hallway outside my room and needed my help, the second time I recognized it for what it was and pointedly ignored her before going into my room. Now that I had the door shut and I was safe, I blew out an even bigger sigh of relief, then choked on it when I saw who was in my room. Moiraine had advised me to ignore the attempts of the lords and ladies to attach a woman to me, but a man was only able to ignore so much before it became impossible. I had chatted with the women sent to try and wriggle into my life, longer with some than others because they could actually hold a conversation. A Domani woman I had spoken with, she hadn't told me her name and I wondered if she was one of the women sent by the nobles, was sitting casually on the edge of my bed. It may not have seemed a sacrifice to these women, I hardly went anywhere without women stopping to stare at me. I had thought pretty good about myself when I first noticed women staring at me, fawning over me was a better way of putting it, but it got beyond irritating after only a few days. I tried not to notice it now, but the women that were trying to bed me might consider themselves lucky to try. The Domani woman certainly appeared to be enjoying the chase of me, we had spoken more than a few times in the last eight days I had been here.

"I tried to find you earlier," her throaty voice was seductive enough to stimulate a rock, but I was in no mood to be tempted. "The servants who had any idea said you were with the Aes Sedai Moiraine, you spend entirely too much time with her." The woman was maybe a year or two younger than me, maybe. I had never been very good at estimating ages and I could only hope she was about my age for her to show so much interest in me. Tall and willowy, she had an almost regal bearing and wore as little as most Domani women. Her dress extended to her neck, but was almost translucent and hinted at the little it managed to hide.

"I spoke to Moiraine in passing, but I wasn't closeted away with her today," I didn't mention where I had been. Lounging on the wall, I looked her over very obviously, "We've spoken at length about a dozen topics, spent more time together than I have given to anyone except the Aes Sedai, and you have never given me your name." I had never asked her for it, if she didn't want to give it that was her choice but I was going to know it now or she would leave me alone. "I will admit it has made discussing things with you a bit more difficult than if I had known your name."

She laughed musically, she must have lived in Cairhien for a long time or had been born here because she had the accent, "Any name I give you could be a lie, but I suppose it would only be fair because I know your name." She paused and I waited expectantly, the only woman not obviously Cairhienen that had tried to attract my interest and she toyed with me. Maybe she knew that because she had not given me her name I had looked for her the next day? "Niathella." I didn't think that I would ever get used to not hearing names like John, Steve, Jessica, or Mary. There were no normal names here!

"Niathella," I gave her a small nod of my head, I hadn't given even the High Lord Meilan that much when I saw him. "I hope you aren't offended to badly, but what do you think you are doing here?"

Her laughter came again, I was not in any mood for laughter. "I am trying to figure out the mystery of Taylor, I had thought you would be enticed by my pretty face," she brushed fingers against her cheek and slid them down to her breasts, "but you surprised me. I've seen the women that the lords and ladies throw at you to tie their strings around you, I'll admit I was impressed when you turned down the girl in the velvets." She had been a girl, too young to be brought into this and I had flown into a rage after I politely refused her advances. She had offered herself to me with pain in her eyes, and I had no had to try to send her off. "When I realized you were more interested in intelligent conversation than staring I decided that I needed to find out more about you. An oddity, to say the least, is the best way to describe you. Your ears, your taste in women, your associations, and your choice of accommodations all name you odd." Unconsciously I reached up and felt at the tip of my left ear, pointed like an elf.

"Be that as it may, you haven't told me why you are in my room." Still lounging, I watched her through seemingly unconcerned eyes.

"Your room is private, there is no more reason than that. Besides," she stretched and lay back on my bed, my eyes drank her in, "you're too pretty to pass up."

That had been the wrong thing to say, I was more than aware I was pretty. I was pretty enough that only Galad Damodred would have gotten more sighs and I hated it now! "Please get out, if we speak again it will not be in my room."

The dagger in her hand didn't seem to come from anywhere, one moment she was lying on the bed and the next she was rushing at me with a dagger in her hand. Reacting, I reached for her hand and pulled it towards me but pushed it enough that the blade slid past me without scoring a hit. In the same movement, I pivoted and tripped her, then let go of her hand as she fell. Dimly I felt a though trickle across the emptiness I had enclosed myself in, did the Forsaken know about me already? Niathella did not rise from where she lay, and before I had reached down to roll her over I saw a pool of blood extending from around her chest. She had impaled herself on the dagger, the dagger she was going to kill me with.

In death, her face was calm and peaceful. A strand of glossy black hair fell across her face and I brushed it away, I felt no remorse for killing her. She had tried to kill me so I killed her instead, I hadn't meant to kill her but that's how things turned out. Had she been a Darkfriend? If so, which of the Forsaken had told her to kill me?

The Forsaken were on my mind more often that I would have liked, I knew Graendal was in Arad Doman masquerading as an old Domani Lady but what was I expected to do about her? What could I do? Mesaana was in the White Tower and I had no idea who she was pretending to be. I had a faint suspicion about Demandred, but only a suspicion. Ishamael and Lanfear would be resurected as Moridin and Cyndane later. Aran'gar and Osan'gar were already on the loose, Aran'gar would infiltrate the Aes Sedai in Salidar and 'help' Egwene with her Saidin induced headaches. Osan'gar was Dashiva, and it pained me to know that I could do nothing even when I saw him. The only time Graendal ever did anything besides get caught in Sammael's scheming was when Rand cleanses the Taint on Saidin in Shadar Logoth. I had told Moiraine about that and she seemed doubtful that Rand could actually cleanse the Taint, but she believed me after I explained how he would do it. The Choedan Kal were a pair of massive sa'angreal that allowed a man and a woman to channel enough of the Power that Lanfear had claimed she and Rand could destroy the Dark One and challenge the Creator. With that much Saidin, a single man could crack the world like a giant egg.

Saidin, the tainted half of the True Source, had had been on my mind as well. Really, there were a million things going on in my mind. I jumped from subject to subject faster than Mat switched inns and games of dice. When I used Saidin, I felt the Taint. The difference between me and any other man was that I wasn't affected by it. It was as if I had a shield protecting me from the Dark One's Taint, I could feel the evil of it but it could not touch me. I was the only man not sworn to the Dark One that could wield Saidin without fear of madness, until Rand removed the Taint of course. Moiraine had given me permission to use Saidar whenever I wanted as long as she was nearby, the Wise Ones had tried several times to corner me and even tried once to shield and bundle me off to their tents. I avoided the Wise Ones on principle, but after they failed to force me into revealing my secrets I avoided them like the plague.

An uneasy alliance had formed between myself and Lan, he still did not trust me, but at least he didn't look like he wanted to draw his sword whenever I was around. Well he looked less like he wanted to draw his sword when I was around, he always looked on the point of bearing steel. It had taken two long chats between us that finally made him less uneasy around me, and more. Rand ignored me completely, except for when I told him about the women trying to tie strings to me. Mat pretended he didn't know me, Egwene hounded me for answers whenever she was not with the Wise Ones and I was around, and Aviendha resumed acting as if I didn't exist. It was all so different from what I had imagined being in the story would be like, every one of them would enjoy my company and I could tell them everything they needed to know to avoid disaster and would help Rand destroy the Dark One.

I rolled over on my bed, so many things I had to worry about! And the Seanchan! Could I change things about that? So much that I could worry about, or I could do something that might change everything. Right now Rand was practicing in the courtyard, the sword now, and later the spear and then the Aiel way of fighting with hands and feet. I knew it all now, an Aielman was bound to touch me eventually and now I was a master of the spear and hand to hand combat, as well as hiding in places most wouldn't be able to hide a small rock. Moiraine had kept me from touching Mat, but I still managed to go into several fits when those with skills touched me.

Only skills or talents that had anything to do with fighting made me 're-learn' them, which only reinforced my belief that my presence here, as well as my ability to use the Power were more than mere coincidences. To actually prove anything I would probably have to speak with the Creator though, and that wasn't going to happen any time soon. What surprised me was the range of things I was re-learning, how to use throwing knives, the quarter staff, and fighting from horseback. Women taught me skills as well, gracefulness came from a Lady who had brushed against my hand while trying to be unobvious forward. I learned how to mend wounds and learned what herbs did what from a wise woman who tried to feed me something awful when I wanted to die after touching her and receiving the worst migraine of my life.

A knock at the door roused me from my musings, "Come in." I didn't really want to talk to anyone but I also wanted someone to be nearby so it wasn't so easy to brood.

Moiraine slipped in, closing the door quietly behind her. In a dark blue silk dress with just enough silver embroidery to make sure anyone recognized that it was an expensive garment. Her dark eyes bored holes into mine when she settled into a chair beside the bed I was laying on. I did that a lot now, it was easier not to be accosted by women when I didn't leave my room. "I thought I would come to you today, I heard that you killed an assassin last night." A female assassin, maybe the Forsaken thought I felt the same as Rand about women, a fatal mistake.

"You heard?" If she didn't know a few moments after I called for help I would have slit my own throat then and there. She had the decency to look slightly abashed, no blushes though, not Moiraine. "She had been working on me since I got here, I wondered if she was one of the women sent to try and tie strings to me but she didn't try as hard as they did so I didn't send her away. I should have suspected I would be a target eventually, but I didn't think it would happen this quickly.

"She's what?" Moiraine looked startled and I stared back, wondering what was so surprising. "After you told me you were a target for the nobles I kept track of which women were throwing themselves at you," there was a glint in her eye I took for anger, "and I had no reports of the Gray Man, or woman, that had tried to kill you."

Gray Man! She was one of the soulless? I had spoken with her though! She wasn't hard to see, I didn't look past her when I looked at her. "One of the soulless? How is that possible, I've spoken with her before and," Moiraine looked startled. "Were you getting reports I was talking to myself in the halls?" She gave a brief nod. Gray Men were hard to see, almost impossible even if you knew what you were looking for. I sat back and whistled softly, wondering why I didn't notice that she was never noticed by anyone else. Why had she spoken with me? Gray Men were assassins, not conversationalists and Niathella had spoken with me at length about a lot of things with no hint whatsoever that she intended to kill me.

"It seems the Forsaken have found out about you Taylor," Moiraine seemed completely comfortable around me, it made me want to shiver after we had just talked about a Gray Woman who had tried to kill me, "it was inevitable but I hoped it would have come after my death." I winced, she talked about it so calmly now and it hurt me knowing that she was going to be trapped with the Eelfinn until Mat's possible rescue. She hadn't said any more, and I didn't press her. What was I going to do about Moiraine? I was sure I was in love with her, the Light burn me but I was. She was gone before I knew she had risen.

Women! Thinking about women made me think about Isendre, the Darkfriend Kadere had brought with him to try and tie a string to Rand. Isendre had tried to get into my tent when it became obvious I was important to the Aes Sedai, even managed to kiss me awake one time before I hauled her out of the tents and away from the camp. I sat her down on the grass, her black robes making it difficult to untangle myself from her, and told her that if she ever tried to come near me again I would let the Aiel know she was a Darkfriend. She had gone stiff and went paler than she already was when I threatened her, then relaxed when she realized that she was safe as long as she left me alone. She did after that, and I was able to keep her from getting killed. That still bothered me, I knew she was a Darkfriend but she hadn't deserved to die like she would have had I not intervened, Darkfriend or not. When I saw her hustlling to Kadere's wagon and caught a glimps of her hairless head I grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. Clamping a hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming, I whispered soflty into her ear until she calmed enough for me to let her go.

"What do you want?" She was brushing her arm lightly where I had grabbed her, I berated myself for not remembering that the Maidens had beaten her with nettles.

"Don't go to Kadere, Isendre," Kadere had thought she was beautiful enough that even bald she simply looked exotic, he was right.

"I must report to him, I don't have any choice!" She was close to tears now, so beautiful and so dangerous. What was I going to do?

"Don't go now, I need to talk with you first."

Leading her away from the camp, I noticed several Maidens following at a discrete distance, I was careful not to touch her so her agitated skin would not be bothered. Her black robes must have felt like a furnace, I would have done something with the Power but I had given my word not to use it without Moiraine's permission. As much as that rankled, it was probably for the best. Cairhien was all rolling plains and little clumps of trees here and there with the occasional small forest, I stopped on a hill two away from the closest tents.

"What do you want to talk about?" Isendre seemed to have regained her composure, that was good.

"What would Kadere do if he thought you would betray him?" She paled, and shivered slightly. I didn't think she knew that he had killed his favorite sister to protect his secret, but it didn't hurt to believe she was aware he would kill her if he even suspected she might break. "If he suspected that you might tell the Maidens he was a Darkfriend, what would he do?" Her silence was enough of an answer, "Kadere would have killed you if you had gone in that wagon, I don't want you to die so I stopped you."

"Why? You know I am a Darkfriend, why save my life? How do you know he was going to kill me? How did you find out I was a Darkfriend?" I raised a hand and she fell silent.

"I know, and so does Rand. Moiraine Sedai probably knows as well, actually I'm sure she does. If we three know and haven't done anything, why do you suppose I want to save your life?" She looked pole axed, if Rand knew she was a Darkfriend he had saved her from death in the Waste long before the Maidens wanted to kill her. "I am simply unwilling to let Kadere strangle you." Delicate hands went to her throat, and she whimpered quietly. From the way she swayed she might have fainted if falling over wouldn't have made her skin light on fire. Thinking quickly, I decided what I was going to do. "When you go to Kadere now, tell him that you've slept with me. You can come up with a story of how you got there, but that will distract him from your failure with Rand. Don't break down when you tell him what the Maidens did to you, make him believe you will still try to seduce Rand. When we reach Cairhien you can disappear, or if you want to stay with him tell him that Aviendha is sleeping in his room with him."

"He hasn't lain with her? I thought," confusion painted her face.

"He has, but I believe it was a one time thing. She sleeps in the same room as he does but they do not sleep under the same blankets." Isendre was moody for a moment, Aviendha had succeeded where she had failed and that bothered her, even in her current situation. "Tell Kadere what you wish, but don't bother trying to learn anything from Jasin Natael." She blinked in shock, I knew enough about what she had been doing that she might have wondered if I was listening to her reports to Kadere.

"I," she blew out a breath and drew in another slowly, "I don't know how to repay you. I am a Darkfriend, but I will go with you to your," I cut her off with a sharp gesture.

"The only thing I want out of this is you staying alive, if you want to repay me find me in Caemlyn later. I'll be in the city after winter has gone, maybe before." I would be there for a while I hoped, I planned on helping rescue Elayne from the Black Ajah.

**Okay… I've updated this chapter but there wasn't much to change, but next chapter might take a little while.**


	6. Chapter 6 : A Revealing Convseration

**Biggest Disclaimer Yet: My story is part romance, and I tried unsucessfully to find someone in the books who could pair up with him after I discarded a name. The love interest has already been introduced, and I worried over what fans who spend way too much time digging into the grit of the stories would think when they read what I'm about to post. I explain it, even if not very well, and I've run with it for too long to start re-writing now.**

**Put off for way too long Disclaimer: There are serious spoilers in this story, if you haven't read the Fires of Heaven I suggest you stop now and hate me for not warning you before.**

News of Queen Morgase's death came ten days after Rand took Cairhien. I heard the rumour in the streets before word got to the palace, but Morgase's death meant that Moiraine was going to 'die' tomorrow and I was going to talk to her if I had to unify the Power to find her. Surprisingly as soon as I got into the Sun Palace a liveried servant in black informed me that Moiraine Sedai wished to speak with me immediately. Every servant I met along the way gave me the same message, and even one of the cooks I passed when going by the kitchens to grab something to eat before talking to her told me about the summons.

Light how I wanted to be free of the guilt that was building in me! So much pain and suffering I could stop, but would I cause more pain and suffering if I had stopped the events I knew about?

Rand came around a corner and stopped when he saw me, his eyes were ice. The hands clenched at his sides looked as though they itched to get at a sword and cut me in two. Considering how he felt for Elayne, I didn't blame him.

"You knew!" The ice in his eyes was nothing compared to the barren frozen waste of his voice, "You knew and didn't say anything! Morgase," he cut off when I gestured for him to follow me, the frozen glare in his eyes not changing a hair when he walked beside me.

"I knew," I hoped that he would calm enough for him to think clearly, "If I changed that then events would alter dramatically, I can only tell you that things aren't as bad as they sound." Rand's face grew dark, anger rumbling across his face like storm clouds. "I won't apologize for this, it has to be this way." Rand began channelling but I embraced Saidin and drew more than Rand could have hoped to hold even with his angreal. He stopped weaving, but held Saidin as he stalked away.

Only a turn away from the hallway that held Moiraine's apartment, I ran into Mat. I thought my skin brushed against his, but nothing happened. Mat stared at me for a few seconds, then rushed passed me so quickly I would have thought he was being chased by Tylin already. Poor Mat, he still had the Queen of Altara to deal with. A knock at the Aes Sedai's door was followed by their immediate opening and a soft musical accent requesting I come in.

I saw the flows of Air that had opened the door, saw the way they reached out to pull me in when I didn't move fast enough. Dodging them, I had to dive into the room to avoid the smack aimed at my bottom. "That was not necessary, I was coming in and you knew it. Least of all the attempted spanking!"

Moiraine sat on a chair grinning so pointedly I forgot to be angry with her, a smile on her face made her truly lovely. No! Don't think that! "So it seems you have kept your promise all this time," the promise, the one I regretted soon after the first spy tried to bed me, had made me miserable several times since I swore it, "I hold you to it no longer."

No sigh of relief, no straightening of posture, no bat of an eyelid betrayed my thankfulness. Moiraine had told me directly after reaching Cairhien that I showed too much on my face and I had been working very hard to keep it completely expressionless. I tried to keep clear of any women who held prominence in the books but Egwene seemed to have made it her mission to stalk me when she wasn't with the Aiel. I couldn't avoid Moiraine for the same reason I couldn't avoid Rand, if they wanted me I couldn't hide in the hells in the worst part of the city.

"You have feelings for me," she said it so casually my calm cracked and I gaped at her, "I've known it since you told me you pitied my efforts when you read from my point of view."

Blood and ashes! Curses from my own world didn't seem to add up to what that simple one did, blood and bloody ashes! "You've known," my voice was ragged, "this whole time! Why didn't you say something? You didn't have to tease me!" That she had, nearly kissing me several times, brushing the hair out of my eyes playfully, I had thought she was just enjoying the casualness she allowed herself to present when around me but if she knew! "I've been keeping my emotions in check as much as possible whenever I'm around you and you knew! You encouraged it!" I was working myself into a rage, I didn't normally have time to do that. The fourteen year old girl was just lucky, or unlucky as everyone else saw it, to be the first to see me fly into a rage with no time to work myself up to it.

Moiraine was all Aes Sedai calm, the second time she had done so when we were alone since the first night I had come to this world, and it made me cool down. "I teased, I flirted, and I manipulated your feelings." She was not Black Ajah, she could not lie, "But it wasn't because I wanted to hurt you." Women never wanted to hurt you, they played games and expected you to see them as games. "I've never been able to be so relaxed around anyone before since gaining the shawl, even with Siuan." Aes Sedai can bend the truth to fit whatever they wanted to put forward. "It was so nice not to have to hold everything in check, I could be a woman when I was alone with you and flirting is part of it." So casual, she was so casual. My feelings, even if I knew the future for them had been hopeless it still dug at me that she had played with my feelings. "I want to apologize for my behavior, I had no right to lead you on as I did. I'm sorry Taylor."

"Why?" She looked confused, the Aes Sedai serenity had gone from her face and I realized that there had been sorrow on her face before the confusion. She really was sorry! "Why did you let your guard down around me? Why do you still?"

"Because," she blushed slightly, "because I feel safe with you."

Shock made my legs go out from under me, a chair behind me saved my bottom from being bruised worse than it was by the hard wood of the plain chair. "You feel safe around me? What about Lan?"

Moiraine Damodred, Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah blushed scarlet to her ears. An Aes Sedai who had remained cool and composed when facing two of the Forsaken, had stood stalwart against Machin Shin, the Black Wind of the Ways, was blushing. And she was blushing because of me, could it be possible that a woman twice my age could have feelings for me? And she tells me now?

"Oh Light! Why couldn't you be someone else, someone who won't die tomorrow?" She knew as well as I that she wouldn't die tomorrow, "You could have told me earlier, told me how you feel. I still understand that you have to do what you must tomorrow, this doesn't change it and it would have been nice to know earlier."

The color in her face had just started to recede when I had began speaking but it returned full force by time I was done, "You don't understand," it came out as a stammer rather than the calm she was trying desperately to regain, "nothing could come of it and even if it did it would only have hurt worse when this day came. I knew I would love you the moment I saw your face, I saw you in the ter'angreal at Rhuidean."

She was babbling just as much as I wanted to, nothing would have come of it, hah! Me in love with an Aes Sedai was bad enough but she shared my feelings! "Rhuidean? I thought it was Thom you were going to fall for!" She looked shocked, so the internet guys were wrong! Or did the Pattern know I was coming? "You realize what this means don't you," obviously she didn't because she didn't look shocked or outraged in the least. "I am going to come for you after you kill Lanfear."

Now the understanding came, it must have flung my suspicions of Thom out the window because with understanding came the shock and outrage I had expected. "You can't! You said yourself Mat had to attempt my rescue! If I came back from the Eelfinn it would change everything!"

"You think I care? You think I don't know? I don't have to play a part in events if I don't want to, I could have left Cairhien long ago to wait out events so I didn't have to watch them happen! I don't intend to be around when Mat becomes the pet of a queen, or Rand get's himself stuck in jail. I don't want to be anywhere near Amador when the Whitecloaks that were around the White Tower kill anyone in their way because Dragonsworn hide in the crowds! I intend to be with you."

Sympathy appeared in her face, she knew I had and would continue to feel guilty for all the pain I could not stop. It was replaced by stubborn indignation shortly after, she was pretty enough that she looked alluring even when indignant, "It doesn't matter what you intend, my presence will only cause change and if what you know to happen changes then everyone will be at the Dark One's mercy."

"But it won't! If both of us stay away from everything important we can't change things! Shienar is only mentioned a few times and only to talk about the arguments over Rand being the Dragon Reborn. Staying in Saldaea is even less likely to make things change, except for Tenobia and the other borderland rulers going off to find Rand nothing happens there. Alone I'm enough to fend of any Trolloc raid, I could probably devastate an army by myself. When Mat goes to rescue you I could put you back!" I could see that I was having an effect on her resolve, but then it hardened when I was sure she was going to bend.

"You will not come for me, I will not leave the Eelfinn until Mat, Thom, and another come for me."

The rage I had cooled took me in less than a heartbeat, "I love you woman!" The roar of my voice might have scared half the servants out of the Palace and brought every Aiel within three miles if Moiraine hadn't put up a ward against listeners, "You will not try to stop me! Compulsion would be enough to stop that and I would use it if I must!" With three strides I was in front of her and took her by the shoulders. A thought skittered across the void I had shrouded myself in, I would never use compulsion on her, never. She was so small, so fragile, I wanted to cradle her in my arms and never let go, the emptiness of the void held back tears of frustration, but it also kept the emotion from my voice, "I would destroy the world for you Moiraine, if you try to keep away from me I will."

"You mean it," her eyes were ice now, "you actually meant that."

"Love is a strange thing, I never expected to fall in love with you Moiraine but I did. Don't make the mistake of believing I wouldn't do it."

The ice melted, and her arms wrapped around my neck, "You love me," I didn't think she wanted an answer so I let the silence that came after hold until she spoke again, "when I realized you felt something for me I knew I loved you but I didn't know you felt the same. I only thought you were fond of me, more than just friends but I never hoped for more."

Shock was one way to put how I was feeling now. That fast? She had changed her mind that fast? Or was this a ploy to see if I really did love her? Was this the Pattern weaving me into its web? I needed to find Min. She held me for a long time, her small body pressed against me in such a way that there was no denying the emotions between us. Light! What had happened? One minute we were talking about Morgase and the next we had professed our love for each other. What was Lan going to say?

It turned out he didn't say anything, the Warder had placed himself outside Moiraine's room when I left after almost an hour of talking together and only glanced at me when I walked out of the room. Had Moiraine blocked him from feeling what she had while we were in the room? If what she said was true she would have had to block Lan from the moment she realized what she felt for me. Did anyone else suspect? Several of the Maidens had made jokes at my expense about being the lapdog of the Aes Sedai, but after I made a very Aiel joke about Maidens and their tendency to stick their noses in areas even Wise Ones avoided they stopped laughing at me as if I didn't understand them anymore.

Moiraine came to see me before nightfall. She knocked on the door and came in quickly, I had gone back to my room after talking with her and she found me in the same position I had been in since laying down on my bed.

"We have to talk," I didn't move from where I lay but her tone suggested she wouldn't leave until she felt we understood one another.

Lifting myself up and swinging my legs over the bed, I made myself look at her, past the ageless face of Aes Sedai to the woman underneath that didn't seem to be such a barrier anymore. I had told her I loved her and she had said the same to me, what a pickle I had gotten myself into. "What is it you want to talk about? It's not as if I'm going to change my mind, you will kill Lanfear and I will come for you. Unless you want me to kill Lanfear and you pretend to die so it's easier, it would be easier that way."

"We need to talk about the Black Ajah, I know you have names or you wouldn't talk about them as if you meant to disassemble them with one blow," there was no love for me in her eyes now, she was all business.

"I know of two on the Supreme Council of the Black Ajah but only a few others. Liandrin and the sister's that left with her are already known and Elayne will deal with them later, but right now I only remember one other name and she can't be allowed to be apprehended or Nynaeve will never break her block."

"Couldn't you break it for her? You know how so why don't you go to her and break it for her, it would do a world of good to have her in full control of Saidar."

"And do what? The things that she will do are because she has the block, without it I don't believe events will go as I know they must. Moghedien breaks Nynaeve's block Moiraine, she tires to kill her but it forces Nynaeve to break her block."

She looked questioningly at me but when I didn't continue she sighed. "Things might have been easier between us if I had never been casual around you."

"If you hadn't I would have driven you mad, I was well aware of your tactics until you used this new motive to set me off balance."

She laughed then, it sent a thrill through me to hear her laugh, "You think I was trying to manipulate you? I was trying not to tell you everything! Getting you to leave Jasin Natael alone was only luck, and I'm still suprised you stopped trying to enter Tel'aran'rhiod." She laughed again, but we both knew what we were avoiding and her laughter faded away. "The names, if Rand knows about them it might not change anything but even if it does it will only help him."

I was torn in indecision, if I told him Galina Casban was Black Ajah he might kill her when the embassy from the Tower came, "If he knows it will change things, things that have to happen."

"What things?" Moiraine had settled herself on the chair facing me, her dark blue riding dress made her seem a queen.

"Aes Sedai will swear fealty to him, it is part of the Prophecy of the Dragon. If he knows about one of them it will lead him to the other and all chance of getting to that point will fail."

Moiraine looked shocked, "Swear fealty to him?"

"It is necessary for what he has to do, there's even a Black sister among those who swear to him but I can't remember her name. I hate not being able to change things! Rand is going to go through pain and agony I could prevent, but if I do," I trailed of in dark mumbles about my inability to act.

"I could prevent my death, warn Rand that Lanfear will attack us tomorrow and you and he would be able to subdue her somehow, but then what would happen? You must let things happen as they are supposed to, if you don't you won't be able to make the small changes that might save some from pain without affecting the course of the Pattern.

"I could have saved a Novice from a Black sister, I could save a scholar and a queen from a gholam, I probably will save the queen."

"You have so much responsibility," her hand pressed against my cheek and I put my hand over hers, "you cannot be responsible for their deaths, they were not and will not be caused by you."

Tears filled my eyes, it had been a long time since I had cried, "I still feel the weight of their deaths on my shoulders. I can feel their eyes watching me from the grave, accusing me, hating me for not saving them when I know I could!"

How off topic we had gotten, Black Ajah to who I could save and who I couldn't. I didn't realize Moiraine was in front of me until I felt her lips press against my cheek, then the other, then my closed eyes, then my lips. She drew away after that, kneeling before me and making no effort to rise. Her dark eyes tugged at my soul, I knew I would break the world for this woman, the thought made me want laugh but I would do it just the same. Perrin felt the same way about Faile, I understood how he felt now.

"I don't want you to be there when it happens," she probably would have begged me if she even thought I might consider it.

"If I did go only one woman would die." She nodded, then rose to leave. I caught her hand, and stood beside her.

"The letters, I have to write the letters," her protest for me keeping her here was weak, she had until morning tomorrow to write the letters but I knew she had already written them.

"I have to," I didn't manage to finish it before kissing her, Moiraine was head, shoulders and a bit more shorter than me but it wasn't hard at all to bend enough to kiss her. It wasn't that hard to recognize that she felt right against my chest, she felt right. She kissed back and wrapped her arms around me, I held her close and it seemed forever passed before I reluctantly broke it off. She was gasping for breath, but looked so radiant that I thought she could have lit the room if the lamps that were already in the room were not all lit. The glow of Saidar surrounded her for an instant and I felt a brush of something behind me, turning to see what she had done I heard her run to the door and almost rip it off it's hinges to get out. I understood, we would not have left the room for a long time yet if it had gone any farther than the kiss.

**Oh that was painful! Hard to write and painful to read afterwards. Romance is definately not my thing.  
**


	7. Chapter 7 : Rahvin's Demise

Rand found me after it happened, I had expected it to take him longer but he found me an hour after it happened. The anguish I felt must have been reflected in my eyes because he didn't say anything for a long time.

"You knew," it was an accusation again, but not anything like with Morgase.

"Of course," I was calm, I would get her back. That was all that kept me from tearing the Sun Palace apart. Knowing that she was still alive didn't seem to make things any easier. It was something I had wondered about when I was holding on to my self-restraint by a hair.

For a moment he looked at me, stunned, "She told you?" I didn't even bother to look at him, just nodded my head. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have saved her." I didn't say anything, if I had opened my mouth then only a mournful wail would have escaped. I knew she wasn't dead but it felt like she had been ripped away from me. "We're going, are you coming?"

The gateway opened and blackness was all that could be seen, Rand had asked me several times about Traveling and had cornered me just as many times and tried to wrestle out of me how to do it. I never mentioned Asmodean, I had never even looked at Jasin Natael and I knew he wondered about me. He had been nervous as a mouse cornered by cats, and Rand must have told him I knew his true identity because he avoided me just as assiduously as I did him.

Skimming was a type of Traveling that was used when you didn't know the area you were in, if you didn't know where you were well you could end up making a gateway to nowhere. Skimming didn't require knowing a place but was much slower, considering you had to travel in darkness rather than just stepping through a door to a place as far away as you pleased. I had managed to avoid questions about Traveling, and became as stubborn as a man from the Two Rivers, according to Egwene, when I was cornered and told I had to answer questions.

Egwene was lying in the Aiel camp with Wise Ones hovering about her because of Lanfear's attack, and I was with Rand, Mat, Aviendha, and Asmodean on our way to Caemlyn. Rahvin was the self proclaimed king of Andor and Rand was going to kill him.

"Someone fell," the answer to Rand's question. It seemed that even replacing someone on the platform did not stop that from happening, I did not listen to the rest of what was said. Moiraine filled my mind, the Aes Sedai whom I loved and who loved me. It was strange thinking about that, I had thought Moiraine was above love for another. Not that I thought she was incapable of it, just above it. It had come as much a shock that she returned my feelings as that I was in love with her. I was still going to save her from the Tower of Ghenjei, but she could wait for the moment. Two thoughts flashed though my mind, should I save Aviendha and the others from Rahvin? Or should I stop it and make sure Rand killed the Forsaken with balefire? It was a very tough choice, one that I knew might change everything and could change nothing. With Rahvin completely dead, well that changed nothing, but if Rand wasn't thrown into a rage by their deaths would he be strong enough to kill him? I would save their lives, and help Rand kill Rahvin.

Another gateway opened, and as the Maidens and other societies poured into the streets I spoke in a loud whisper, "Rahvin expects you, he will attack as shortly after the gateway closes and the Aiel have secured the perimeter." Asmodean looked at me with shock and disbelief painted on his face, "There are Trollocs behind that wall, I suggest you stop the Aiel that are going to try and climb it."

"Thank you," Rand murmured before the last Aiel was out and the rest of the party besides Rand went out also. The platform we had been transported on would cease to exist the moment he stepped out of the, well wherever it was it disappeared when he left the platform. "Don't climb the walls! Prepare to be attacked!"

The Aiel had already veiled, but those that were going to climb the relatively short wall stopped and backed away. Just as they did, the walls fell outwards and both Rand and I felt Saidin being woven from inside the castle. The Dragon embraced Saidin, I embraced Saidar, and the shield we both formed was easily strong enough to fend of an attack by four or five of the Forsaken. We hadn't linked, that was something I had decided I would do with no one, but the flows of Saidar I wove into Rand's Saidin seemed to merge and unify to form a shield many times stronger than either would have been alone.

Aviendha stared at what we had done in amazement, then at me, and the emotion that flickered across her face was not disregard any longer, but respect. I was not a wetlander to her, but I was not Aiel so was not nearly as important as any other Aiel. That I was incredibly strong in Saidar and that I was willing and able to shield most of the New City with Rand brought me up a notch.

Rand stared at me as well, the look of startlement was replaced by grim determination when he saw me looking at him as well. "Shall we?" I gestured towards the gateway I had opened to the throne room and Rahvin.

Rand didn't say anything, he just snarled and threw fire and lightning ahead of him just as it had been in the book. And just as it had been, Rahvin fled, but he spared me a horrified look before running. The gateway snapped shut behind the two of us before any could follow, not that they would have been able to. I held Saidin now, and the look of horror on Rahvin's face was that two men who could channel were attacking him not just one. He had expected Rand, even Asmodean, but I held enough of the Power that I thought I might rival what Rand could with a weak sa'angreal.

Tapestries burned, hallways were scorched, and the two of us continued on in silence except for the sound of our boots hitting the floor as we ran. Myrddraal and Trollocs, darkfriends and any who drew steel against us were burned where they stood. Servants cowered in corners when we passed, soldiers that were fighting Trollocs or Myrddraal in the hallways to the left or right were aided when the shadowspawn simply burst into flame. We had time, Rahvin had not gone to Tel'aran'rhiod yet. He was always just turning the corner ahead of us, just slipping into a side hallway when we caught sight of him, any attempt to snare him with flows of Air were cut by mad flailings of the Power. It was hard to stop those flows so he kept just ahead of us until I felt him channel something different. Running as hard as we could, I saw the weave just as it closed.

"He's gone to Tel'aran'rhiod," it was all I needed to say before Rand channelled where Rahvin's weave had been and the gateway to the world of dreams opened. "I have the advantage there."

"Tel'aran'rhiod, is that where Egwene speaks with Elayne and Nynaeve?" I didn't answer and his face darkened. When I didn't answer, it could be a yes or no, or anything in-between but I wouldn't even give a hint of what I could answer. If I did, he knew I was trying to preserve what I knew in my world but it still frustrated him that I could be so stubborn. As stubborn as he was, the Maidens had said quietly after he had nearly screamed the accusation at me.

"Here," I said, not panting anymore because Rahvin was now at my mercy and I decided I didn't want to be out of breath, "anything you can believe is real, it is the world of dreams and anything you think can be real. That is both an advantage and a thorn in your side, take care the thorn isn't poisoned."

With that, Rahvin's attacks continued. Changing reality in Tel'aran'rhiod was as simple as believing it, but keeping it how you want required skill that simple belief did not lend anyone. When hallways became flame they changed back, when corridors became stone they changed back, when rooms changed so that it felt like you were being crushed just by being they changed back. Either Rand or I made it so, I left the lead to Rand, but if he hesitated in using balefire against the Forsaken I wouldn't wait to do it. Use of balefire was not a problem, the three of us used it so often I was worried that we might kill Nynaeve and Moghedien.

"Rahvin!" Rand yelled ahead of us where I had seen him turn a corner, "Come back and fight you cowering dog!" Mocking one of the Forsaken was not how I had imagined someone would get them do anything, but it made him pause for the moment we needed to slice the distance between us. Rahvin took off at a dead run, but we were too close now and our combined strength snared him like a rabbit.

Sparing a glance to where I felt Saidar being used, I saw Nynaeve through a window above the courtyard we were in now. The courtyard where Rahvin would have tried to turn Rand into an animal but would have failed because of Nynaeve. She saw me look at her and she squeaked, ducking back behind the window frame. I saw another woman peek out behind the window sill, Moghedien, and I only noticed because I was staring at the window while Rand stared at Rahvin.

"Balefire will stop the Dark One from resurrecting him," Rahvin's eyes widened in shock, "and besides, the damage done to the palace will not have happened if it is strong enough."

"How can you know?" His question was cut off when I stuffed a gag of air into his mouth, he looked horrified and indignant at the same time. I wondered how he could pull that off.

Rahvin, Lord Gaebril, or King Gaebril now, was an impressive man. Large across the shoulders and I assumed that women would find his face irresistible to stare at. I thought he was revolting, not just because the look of horror on his face was marring any possible dignity he could have kept, because of what I knew he had done to Morgase, to any woman he took a fancy to.

"Balefire," Rand said quietly, "can he really be resurrected?"

"Two of the Forsaken have already been, Aran'gar and Osan'gar, Ishamael and Lanfear will be as well. I don't know of any others but if you kill one without balefire the Dark One will be able to resurrect them and set them on the world again."

Rahvin's eys narrowed as he listened to me, "Asmodean?"

I laughed out loud, startling both of them, "Asmodean? I'm not Asmodean, I'm much worse, as far as the Forsaken are concerned." I knew Moghedien was listening as intently as Nynaeve was from the window, I didn't look towards them for that very reason. Moghedien would escape and take news of me to the Dark One, I supposed it would have been more wise not to flaunt myself like this but it was hard not to when I held so much of the Power in me. I felt as if I could do anything at all, anything I could dream I could do with the Power. I felt exactly like Rand did when he held Callandor and it terrified me to my core. When I held Saidin I felt the rage and struggle for survival, when I held Saidar I felt the exaltation and immensity of life, and when I held both I felt neither. It was as if one cancelled the other or having them together made the struggle and joy merge and become one, like how I used the two sides of the True Source together. I did feel something, but I wasn't sure what it was other than I felt, complete. I felt more whole than I did without both forces driving the Wheel of Time, and without I felt a part of me was missing. Reaching out for the two together was different from taking either on its own, I simply willed them to be at my command and they were. There was no surrender, there was no struggle for survival, the two sides of the Power were just mine to control.

A bolt of white hot liquid fire erupted from Rand's hand the size of a horse and eradicated Rahvin from existence, he had drawn on every scrap of the Power he could hold safely and poured it all into that single bar of fire so intense that it tore Rahvin's thread from the Pattern and destroyed it forever. I was close enough I could feel the intensity of it, feel the roar and pull of it to banish me from the weave of the Pattern. Then it was gone, and Rahvin gone with it.

I looked up at the window that Nynaeve and Moghedien were at and saw both women staring at me, both with mixtures of confusion and fear, Mogedien was showing more fear than Nynaeve but from what I knew about the Spider she was always a little frightened unless she was in complete control. They saw me looking up at them at the same time and only stared back, I wondered what I had started.

Rand grabbed me by the shoulder and I turned to face him, he wasn't grinning but I could see the smile in his eyes. It wasn't something I said, or even something I had told him before but he seemed to understand what I was going to say, "I'll miss having you around. It's nice having someone who treats me like a person rather than a figure."

I took him by the shoulder, he was a hand taller than I was but he seemed he towered over me, "I won't be gone that long, just long enough that something happens I don't intend to change." My face darkened and he knew that look. "It's going to happen to you, I want to change it but it has to happen!"

Suddenly I realized what I had done, Nynaeve might not have left Tel'aran'rhiod yet! Looking up at the window I imagined the entire wall gone, and saw nothing. Could she have overheard? Burn me for a Light-blasted fool! I took Rand's hand from my shoulder and wove a gateway back to the real world. "I must go now, follow Moiraine's advice. Don't trust any Aes Sedai." I went through the gateway and back to the waking world.

**Rahvin's dead, same as in the story except for changes in the events leading up to it. The Wheel of Time takes in Taylor's actions and continues weaving, will he screw everything over like he fears? Find out next time on... tape ends  
**


	8. Chapter 8 : Aes Sedai

It took me the better part of a month to find it, and three days to figure out what I was going to do. The Tower of Ghenjei stood before me, and I wondered if both the Aelfinn and Eelfinn were in the Tower in different worlds. Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to dazzle, iron to bind, the phrase children spoke before starting a game of Snakes and Foxes. Snakes and Foxes was a game children played that was impossible to win unless you broke the rules, and I knew how to break the rules.

"I don't suppose you would open for me now?" The spire in front of me kept silent, if it had answered I probably would have turned around and looked for another Tower of Ghenjei.

Embracing both Saidar and Saidin, I wove a gateway into the tower and was relieved when I saw a startled Eelfinn through the door. I guessed it was an Eelfinn, it didn't have a snaky appearance and it was clothed in straps of leather and a kilt I was sure were human skins. It was taller than an Aiel, and had a distinctly male appearance. Holding the gateway open, I entered the realm of the Eelfinn.

"I have come for a woman that was brought here by a ter'angreal, she came with another, Lanfear." The Eelfinn stiffened when it recognized the name. "I will have her, or I will tear this tower apart."

"You seek the Aes Sedai," it began to breathe in, and I slammed a barrier of air around it's head, it's eyes opened wide and it looked to be strangling.

"I do, and you will stay out of my head. If I so much as feel a tingle on my skin, or even suspect you are rummaging through my experiences I will kill you. If I think you might try to lie to me or deny me what I ask I will kill you. I want Moiraine Damodred now and if you do not bring her to me, well." My tone was almost friendly, if anyone in either world I had lived in had heard me say those things with that tone they would have run away from me.

The Eelfinn jumped to do as I asked, I hadn't thought it would be this easy. I only remembered to loose the bonds of air around its head as it disappeared around a corner. That quickly? I had expected that I would need to start tearing the tower down around myself before the Eelfinn would believe me. I was very careful to be aware of how I felt, if the Eelfinn tried to rummage through my memories or take sensations from me I wanted to know it was happening.

My heart caught in my throat when Moiraine came around the corner with a different Eelfinn than the one I had spoken to. Her own eyes lit slightly, but a thin mouth made me wonder if something was wrong. Feeling with Saidar and Saidin together, I felt the Mirror of Mists around the woman that was not Moiraine. The weave had been inverted but I could feel them even if I couldn't see them. Lanfear became visible from the illusion and my heart jumped into my throat again. She lashed out with a shield of Saidar, and I batted it aside contemptuously. Lanfear was still alive! And was so beautiful!

"I told you to bring me Moiraine Damodred! Not this wench!" Lanfear's eyes widened and anger flushed her face. "I told you I would tear this tower down if you did not bring her to me, I think I will begin now." Drawing deeply on both parts of the Power, I made the tower tremble slightly. Lanfear's eyes opened wide in shock. She must have tried to tear the tower down as well and met with no success, and now I had done it without seeming even to try. I wrapped both up in flows of air woven of both sides of the Power, Lanfear's eyes widened in realization of what I was doing.

"He wields," Lanfear's voice was seductive even when terrified.

"I want the Aes Sedai brought to me now, and I will destroy anything that bars that request," my voice was back to deadly calm, it seemed to make my words all the more terrible.

The Eelfinn who had tried to ambush me with Lanfear ran around the corner and out of sight, the Forsaken was still wrapped in flows of air I had woven around her. I hadn't even bothered to shield her, the woman would never have been able to cut me off from the Source when I held both. Gesturing, I released the flows of air around her and she drew herself up regally. Lanfear had a self possession that would put the ten most powerful Amyrlin Seat's to shame, and her absolute beauty was so much a part of her it seemed I should bow to her even though I was clearly the more powerful. My own posture was upright and I held myself with my own type of self possession that I had developed over the time I had spent in this world. Lanfear was looking at me with a small quirk in her mouth, I wanted so badly to press myself against her and kiss the woman. Until I remembered who I was lusting after.

Her eyes flickered to my ears, they were hard to miss unless whoever was looking at me was focused only on my nose, "You are not," Lanfear no longer looked confident voice trembled slightly, "human."

My brain felt like it had been struck like a gong and my voice boomed from deep within me, "I am Kel 'Aridavin Deshuvekil, Hand of the Creator." Sagging as if I had been beaten and rung out to dry, and panting as if I had run a marathon and was badly out of shape I looked up at the woman before me. Lanfear had paled as much as it was possible, her delicate skin was as pasty white as a Myrddraal.

"Kel 'Aridavin! My Lord," she curtsied so deeply that I thought she might touch her head to the ground. "Please my Lord, forgive my ignorance."

Hand of the Creator! What was I? I heard a squeak from the corner that hid whoever had made the noise and flows of air brought two figured out from behind the curve in the hallway. Moiraine and an Eelfinn. The woman I loved looked at me with a mixture of confusion and absolute love, the Eelfinn, a female, looked willing to kill herself rather than confront me. Moiraine had on the dress she had attacked Lanfear in, I saw her again before she led Rand down to the wagons. Gold threads caught the light, faintly streaking Moiraine's gown of shimmering blue silk. The small blue stone on her forehead, hanging from its gold chain

fastened in her waves of dark hair, shone as brightly as the large gold-set sapphires around her neck.

I ripped my gaze from her and looked at the Eelfinn female, "So you can be brought to heel," my voice was contemptuous, if it were possible the Eelfinn would have drawn in on herself more. "I made a simple request, told you the repercussions of what would happen if it was not carried out, and you still tried to swindle me." I released Moiraine from the air that held her and she walked gracefully to my side, if she was a touch hurried it was completely understandable. Lanfear had remained in the deep curtsy all this time, "And you, Mierin, what do you want?"

"I live to serve you Master," her voice was not trembling anymore, she seemed to have gained some of her self control again. Suddenly I saw a black cord connected to her, it wasn't like I assumed the male Forsaken would have, this seemed to be a bond but nothing more.

"Would you forsake your oaths to the Dark One for me?" I felt Moiraine's hand on my sleeve, anyone else would have been trying to drag me away but this amounted to about the same from her.

"I would, Great Master," a sliver fine thread of compulsion came from her, advancing towards me on the ground so it would have been harder for me to see if I hadn't been expecting something like this.

"Then I cut your bonds to the Darkness," with two flows of the combined Power I severed her weave of compulsion and the cord of black that tied her to the Dark One, and she started screaming.

"Please Taylor," Moiraine was tugging my shirt sleeve now, "you must leave here now."

Lanfear had crumpled to the floor, ignoring her I wove a gateway. I began to walk through, and I noticed Moiraine wasn't moving. _You must leave here now. _Her words, I wanted to cry. She wasn't going to come with me, she never intended on it. Moiraine brought my hand to her lips and kissed it gently, then pushed me through the gateway with a flow of Air. Our hands fell apart and the gateway closed, Moiraine would wait until Mat came for her, just like in the books. Just like in the books. I would see her again, but until then I would keep the Pattern moving as I knew it should. There were tears in her eyes when the gateway closed.

I had told Rand that I wouldn't be back until after something terrible happened to him, I had intended on being with Moiraine during that time. I did stay away for a while, but I arrived in Caemlyn much sooner than was origianally planned. Caemlyn, I hadn't taken time to appreciate the beauty of the city. Second only to Tar Valon, or not second at all acording to Andormen, in beauty, the colors of the city were amazing. The last time I had been here no one had been interested in the scenery accept to see if there were Trollocs or Myrddraal around the next corner, and Rahvin had been running from Rand and myself. I might have given too much away then, but holding the Power was intoxicating and the feeling of omnipotence was so incredible I felt that I could destroy the Dark One then and there. I had been terrified the whole time too, worried that I might try something and kill everyone around me. I did use the Power to hide my ears, I didn't want to stand out that much.

Admiring the sights, I was nearly to the Palace when I saw Rand riding with a group of forty or so Aiel towards the Palace too. Rand glanced up, not seeing me, and up on a roof just as I knew he would, a man with a crossbow suddenly appeared and fired. Embracing Saidar, Rand might feel the tingle of it but I didn't much care, I wove a shield of air around the entire party of Aiel and three crossbow bolts stopped in mid air the same distance from Rand. Veils up, the Aiel went dashing through the streets to apprehend the men who had dared attack the Car'a'carn. Rand turned Jeade'en so quickly several Maidens had to leap out of the way to avoid being trampled by the large stallion.

"Taylor!" Confusion and pleasure flashed across his face before he remembered what had just happened. Two veiled Aiel appeared beside me with spears ready to stab at the slightest provocation. Not that the spears would have done any good, it had always irked me that neither Aes Sedai or Rand or Asha'man saw the simplicity of protection by the Power. A sliver thin layer of Air was all around me, and would turn a blow from anything except the Power or a blow hard enough to knock me back. Even if someone managed to hit me hard enough to knock me back it would not pierce the Air I had woven, Power wrought steel weapons couldn't have pierced this shield.

"I wondered if someone was going to work up the courage to kill you so I decided to drop by and see how you were doing," my grin and his made the Aiel, Maidens now that I bothered to look at them, lowered their veils and removed the spears from threatening positions. "Besides, I needed to be here," Rand had heeled Jeade'en closer to me before I said that and he nodded.

"I don't suppose you will tell me what's going to happen, so I won't ask," he made it sound as if I was twisting his arm to say it, and in a sense I was. Vastly more powerful than he, and he knew it, there was nothing he could do to intimidate me and being ta'veren didn't seem to affect me at all now that I had more mastery over myself. That first night when I had met him still made me frown in thought whenever I wondered about it.

"It's certainly something interesting I assure you, unless I changed your plans." I didn't frown at that, if he didn't go to Cairhien I would tell him he needed to and I would shove him through a gateway myself to get him there.

There were no more assassination attempts before we came to the Palace, not that I expected any but I did have a tendency to change things. No one had died, the Whitecloaks were going to be birched and sent packing to Pedron Niall to inform him that Rand did not like his method of dealing with problems. Desora, the Maiden that would have died had I not been there was looking at me strangely the whole time. I wondered if it were possible that she could have known she was supposed to die today and didn't. For that matter, all the Maidens were looking strangely at me, and the Mountain Dancers were making a point of ignoring me. I supposed it shouldn't have been a surprise, another man that could channel was not a pleasant though even if Moiraine Sedai had taken me under her wing.

My rooms were huge, I had gotten used to small rooms at inns so the large sitting room leading to a massive bed chamber was a little overwhelming at first. I didn't say anything, Mistress Harfor would have been scandalized if I asked for smaller rooms. The First Maid had brought me here personally and I recognized the honor of that, so I spoke with her about Elayne. She was very interested to know that Elayne was alright, that meant that Rand hadn't been lying, and she was overjoyed to know that the Daughter-Heir was with Aes Sedai. Settling into the room, I went about setting up wards and other traps for anyone who tried to open a gateway or listen in to my room. The possibility of Aes Sedai eyes and ears in the palace was impossible to ignore so I wove flows that made certain objects in my possession invisible.

About three quarters done, I noticed a servant waiting in the doorway. "Yes?" He jumped when I spoke, and I guessed he wasn't any older than myself or maybe a bit younger.

"A message for you my Lord," he held a letter in his hands and my name looked to be hastily written on it. Checking the wax seal, not one I knew and not suprising, I opened it and read. Laughing softly by the time I was done I tossed it onto the desk and tossed the servant a silver penny.

Culain's Hound was in the western side of the city, I got that much from a few servants in the castle that knew anything at all. Once outside the city I decided not to ask anyone until I was in the general area, that way I wouldn't waste time asking people who never went to that area. It was a good thing I did, the sun was on its downward climb and three quarters done. Several people I asked when I got to where I thought the inn might be around pointed me in the right direction, and it wasn't long before I was standing infront of the inn that Verin Mathwin and Alanna Mosvani were staying with the girls from the Two Rivers. A meeting with Verin, I wondered how the Brown would try to work me into her plans.

The door opened and a Warder stepped out, his movements made who he was obvious, there were few who could imitate that deadly grace. He was young, so he must be Alanna's because Owen had been killed in the Two Rivers by White Cloaks. Ihvon, that was his name, caught sight of me and then did a double take when he recognized me. He must have seen me with Rand, or one of the Aes Sedai had seen me using Saidar. That would make this meeting awkward, they couldn't do anything to me but a blade to the heart would kill me as fast as the next guy and I wasn't so good to think I would be alright against an ambush by Warders. I headed for the still closing door before Ihvon was completely inside and stopped the door from closing with a foot and went inside. It was cozy inside, with a fire crackling in a corner and young women all about the tables talking quietly with one another. They were the Two Rivers girls, I looked around at faces quickly as they turned to look at me and thought I recognized Bode Cauthon but I couldn't be sure. The girl looked a bit like Mat, but that didn't mean it was her.

Ihvon was headed up the stairs when the door closed behind me and the innkeeper came up to speak with me, "Good afternoon my Lord, and welcome to Culain's Hound."

"The Aes Sedai, they asked for me." No need to give him false hope, I wasn't going to be buying ale or taking a room. Master Dilham nodded nervously, and called for one of the serving girls to see if the Aes Sedai would see, Taylor? The Aes Sedai swept in at that moment, clearing a path through the women about to fetch them.

"You've come more quickly than we expected," Verin was every bit the Brown sister at this moment, completely distracted and not truly paying attention to what was going on around her. Except that she dodged some obsticals she wouldn't have noticed if she was actually lost in thought, I had to remember that she was perhaps the most dangerous Aes Sedai that I had met or would meet in the future.

"Indeed," Alanna looked me over carefully, Ihvon was at her shoulder and was also giving me a look but it wasn't the appraising one that his Aes Sedai was using. "Had we known you would arrive so swiftly we would have waited until later."

"Alanna, although it has been some time, I am sorry for your loss." The Green sister gawked at me, that I knew her name (the request to meet had only Verin's name on it) and that she had lost a Warder was not missed by Verin either. Her eyes narrowed and she became the bird the books had compared her to, it was unnerving seeing a plump distracted woman like Verin become very dangerous in a heart beat. Tomas came down the stairs and seemed about ready to draw his sword, Verin must be agitated or worried for her Warder to be so alert. "I would say more, but I was not there and I never met Owen." Verin and Alanna embraced Saidar and the Two Rivers girls sensed the mood, some might even be able to see the glow of Saidar by now because a few were staring at the Aes Sedai rather than me.

Alanna's mouth opened and closed for a moment, but her shock was hidden from the girls because her back was to them. "Thank you," she said quietly, "thank you for your concern."

Ihvon came down the stairs, and Tomas was eyeing the sword on my back with obvious distrust. I held myself like they did, on the point of violence but held back by a thread. "You wished to speak with me?" Reaching up, I unbuckled my sword and set it against the wall beside the door. Neither Warder relaxed an inch, knowing full well that I did that for their benefit.

Recovering from her momentary shock Alanna released Saidar and I let a mental sigh of relief go, thanking the Creator that this didn't have to get violent. Verin followed suit, and directed Master Dilham to bring wine to the private dining room. The Aes Sedai led, and I followed with the Warders behind me bringing up the rear. The Two Rivers girls were staring at me the whole time, some twisting around in their chairs to follow our progress into the side door. It was a small room, but with polished chairs instead of benches and pewter candlesticks on both the polished table and the vine-carved mantel above the fireplace. The two windows were shut, but the heat affected them as little as it did me.

"You know of our activities in the Two Rivers?" Verin asked immediately after the door was closed. I watched the Brown sister weave a ward against eavesdropping and smiled when I thought of the put out girls just in the other room who so badly wanted to know everything about being Aes Sedai.

"I do, and I meant what I said Alanna. No man should die that way." Ihvon's eye twitched, Alanna's face was absolutely serene but it was a facade if I'd ever seen one. Still, at least they didn't embrace Saidar again.

"Rand al'Thor has taken you into confidence," Alanna began.

I waved my hand dismissively, "And I intend to stay there Aes Sedai, I won't betray his trust." The Warders stiffened at my remark, Gaidin were more protective of Aes Sedai honor than the sisters were. "If you've managed to alienate yourselves from the Dragon Reborn through your own actions, that is your problem."

Now what would they do? Would they suspect I knew Alanna had bonded Rand against his will? It wasn't something Rand was telling anyone, and the Aiel or Cadsuane would be the next to learn of it. Verin regained her lost expression, "We don't want you to betray his confidence, but you must understand that the boy is walking a very dangerous path. Without the guidance of the White Tower he will not be prepared for Tarmon Gai'don."

"The White Tower? The broken White Tower?" They must not know I wasn't from this world, and assumed I held Aes Sedai in high regard. I was about to disillusion them, "Verin, I have as much respect for the White Tower as I do for the White Cloaks right now. Elaida wants to chain Rand to a pole in the Hall of the Tower and show him off to the rulers of the world, and the rebels want Rand out of Caemlyn so that Elayne can take the throne. No, Verin, Rand will do just fine without the guidance of Aes Sedai." Stony faces stared back at me, not that I cared, "Right now, the best thing for the Dragon Reborn to do is avoid Aes Sedai. I think that will be all, unless you have anything to ask me that doesn't involve manipulating Rand?"

The two Aes Sedai exchanged a glance, Verin embraced Saidar and wove flows around herself and Alanna. They had been sitting across the room from me, I was standing by the fireplace and the Warders had placed themselves by the door and close enough to skewer me if I made a move for their Aes Sedai. Now the Green and Brown sisters were standing, and slowly growing bigger.

"You fail to grasp the seriousness of the situation Master Taylor," Verin's voice was much louder than it should have been, I watched the weaves around them casually. Moiraine had done this in the first book, and other Aes Sedai did it afterwards. It wasn't all that startling. "If the Dragon Reborn does not accept guidance from Aes Sedai he could bring ruination on us all." Their heads were close to the ceiling, and they would have appeared terrifying if I couldn't see the weaves, the two of them took a step towards me and I watched the illusions faces as they advanced. It was pathetic, attempting to strong arm me with terror tactics?

Using a small amount of Saidin, I wove my own illusion. I couldn't bare actually cowering before these women but the illusion I wove was, it was a terrified wreak and close to tears on the floor. Another weave let me walk away unseen and I moved with absolute silence so the Warders wouldn't notice my movements. I sat down where the Aes Sedai had been and waited for them to finish their rant.

"...must allow and Aes Sedai to advise him on his decisions," the giant Verin concluded.

My illusion vanished, and the two women shared a startled glance between them before their own illusion disappeared also, I had my feet up on the table when I let my weave fall away and the Gaidin drew their swords and placed themselves between myself and the Aes Sedai in a heart beat. "I'm afraid we don't see eye to eye on the subject. And your methods of convincing me have only strengthened my position." I stretched theatrically, then hopped up, "I don't believe we will see each other for a little while, so I bid you a fond farewell."

"Wait!" Alanna nearly cried out, "How did you?"

"Disappear? I can channel.

* * *

"To Cairhien?" I asked as I walked past a Maiden at the doors to Rand's room a few days later, he looked a touch surprised that I knew but then returned to pacing back and forth. He looked like he was at war with himself and I knew why, Lews Therin was in his head and Rand was trying to figure out if the mad voice in his head was real.

"Taylor, the embassy from the White Tower is in Cairhien," I nodded but Rand didn't look up from his pacing, "and I want you to be there when they meet with me. I can't see Saidar woven but we both know I can feel it being embraced, if you are there it might put them off balance. Off balance enough for me to twist them into my plans."

"I will try to be available, I want to be there but I can't promise anything."

Rand nodded then opened the door to speak quietly with the two Maidens outside. One ran off and the other waited until a large group of Maidens and Thunder Walkers filed in and darted through the gateway into the Sun Palace in Cairhien.

I did manage to make myself available, I headed for the Dragon Reborn's chambers shortly after the Aes Sedai did. I came in just after he had finished looking at each woman's face and was returning to the chair he had been sitting in before the Aes Sedai and their servants entered. The two Aiel outside had told me I was not to enter but I walked by their spears without a care, and that seemed to startle them enough not to try and haul me back before I disturbed the meeting.

As I opened the door, every face swivelled to look at me. I saw Egwene behind the shield of Saidin and her eyes widened when she recognized me, and Rand smiled faintly when I looked up at him. It was the Aes Sedai that I was most worried about, not for my safety, but because I didn't want the Forsaken to descend on me before Rand had thinned their numbers a bit more. The Forsaken would surely learn of my presence if Galina reported anything to Alviarin but news of me might not reach the White Tower for another week or three, depending on how lucky I was.

The Aes Sedai were glaring at me, I pretended not to notice them and walked by them and their servants and sat down on a chair in the back of the room. Their gazes went back to Rand and he was ignoring me now, but Nesune stared at me a moment longer than the others, a quick glance going to my ears. I had decided not to hide them for this.

"You will not channel around me," Rand said firmly. "Let it go." A brief look of speculation crossed Nesune's face, but the other two serenely watched him take his seat. A quick glance at Egwene confirmed that she was staring at me so intently she nearly jumped when she saw I was looking at her too, a smile formed on my lips and her eyes widened in shock. She realized I could see her.

The light of Saidar winked out from around the three Aes Sedai, they had linked when Rand had leapt from the throne to examine faces and now were wondering if he could really tell if they were channelling. "Much better." Rand's smile took them all in, but it never reached his eyes. "Let us begin again from the beginning. You are honoured guests, you only entered this very moment."

I didn't pay attention to what was said, they dumped the gold out on the floor and Rand had truly appeared greedy when he saw it. I thought it looked remarkably like fake treasure I had seen in several displays at amusement parks. The serving women who were accompanying the Aes Sedai looked at me as often, I was unnerving them but I couldn't tell what effect I was having on the Aes Sedai. Two of the women with the Aes Sedai winked at me, and I remembered with a start how handsome my face was now. Handsome wasn't really the word for it, I was 'pretty' and it gauled me to admit it. I hated even thinking about being pretty, Galad had my sympathy.

Part of a request pricked my ears, "And what of this mysterious young man," Coiren Saeldain gestured towards me, I started out of my reprieve and cursed myself for not paying better attention. Aes Sedai missed nothing, Nesune had noticed Egwene but none of them were willing to leave without trying to find out about me.

"He is of no consequence," Rand replied, not even looking at me.

I listened intently to the rest of the audience and was dying to see the women jump a bit by the time they had been dismissed. Just as the Aes Sedai reached the doorway Rand asked how Alviarin was.

"She is well." Galina's mouth hung open for a moment, her eyes widening. She appeared startled to have spoken just as I knew she would.

They left, and Rand rounded on me so quickly I thought he might strike out, "I am glad you came but why did you wait until after they had arrived?

"Who under the Light are you?" Egwene demanded of me, this time she was sure she was going to get an answer. Rand was here and he was stronger than anyone else, or so she thought.

"I am Taylor, I've told you before Egwene but you were never satisfied. I came late because it distracted them, I was not reprimanded for entering or stopped by the Aiel outside the doors. I did not appear worried around Aes Sedai, that unnerved them and my appearance certainly made Nesune look twice. Actually I'm sure she is considering whether or not I am human."

Rand's stare became less intense, "You planned this? Why? If it changes things you will no longer be any help to me."

"I will be a help so long as I live, even if I change everything I will do everything in my power to see that you defeat the Dark One and win at Tarmon Gai'don" I stood, straightened my coat, and began walking out of the room.

I heard a strangled noise coming from where Egwene must have been, and a very formidable silence from where I thought Rand must be. Now could I walk around Cairhein without being assaulted by Warders or Aes Sedai? Or would I have to stay in the Sun Palace and stave off attempts to abduct me there?


	9. Chapter 9 : More Aes Sedai

**A/N: Well... as many of you have noticed, my character seems to be nearly invincible. I get a power trip of writing character that way so I'm enjoying it, but I realize that it lacks realism so I'll be adding elements that make him vulnerable. Not many, I like feeling all powerful through my characters. MWAHAHAHAHA!!! cough  
**

**To Mask1: Creative licence. I try to keep things as similar to the story as possible, but sometimes I'll deviate, like I did with Taylor and Moiraine.**

* * *

The seventh day after the embassy had spoken to Rand, Egwene had dropped by more than once trying to get me to answer her questions and I was getting sick and tired of her. Thankfully she spent most of her time out with the Wise Ones and rarely came into the Palace, but when she came to the Sun Palace she made a point of coming to badger me about things. I took a slow walk around my room to check and see if the wards I had set against intruders on my stashes of angreal and ter'angreal had been changed and smiled when none had been. I had four angreal, three for women and the other for a man. Each of the female angreal were powerful enough to quadruple the amount of Saidar a woman could hold. One, a single finger ring, was powerful enough for a woman to hold seven times as much Saidar as was possible normally. The male angreal, a blue walking stick, was strong, but only allowed a man to triple the amount of Saidin he held. The two ter'angreal I had in my possession did interesting things. One, a blood red pebble the size of a finger nail, let whoever channelled earth and water into it fill a container with water. There had to be a container and it had to be held directly over it for it to work at all, but any container it was held over was filled to the brim in the blink of an eye. The other was a hoop of something resembling wood that seemed to change in size depending on who held it, it needed no channelling to activate. When someone put it on their wrist, it changed size to fit the wrist and closed snugly and made a type of heat shield that kept whoever wore it at the exact same temperature no matter the weather outside. I Traveled to Seanchan and stayed in a blizzard for three hours in just a shirt and britches and didn't shiver at all, then I went to the Waste and didn't sweat a drop. It wasn't the same as the Aes Sedai way of ignoring heat or cold, it created a barrier against them.

I had been correct in worrying if the Aes Sedai would try to kidnap me. There had been on attempt to encourage me to join the sisters and acompany them to the White Tower, and then an attempt to kidnap me the moment after I refused Galina flat out.

The request, which I will admit was tantalizing, was easily seen through because I knew who Galina really was and what the White Tower was prepared to do in order to make sure Rand went to the Tower. I was strolling, yes strolling, through the outer parts of the city browsing through several interesting displays jewelry I thought would look nice on Moiraine when I felt the presence of and Aes Sedai drawing near to me. Several of the embassy Aes Sedai had passed by me in the streets without so much as a glance as I went about my business the day before (a day after the audience) and I didn't bother to see who it was.

As the Aes Sedai drew nearer, her progress also slowed, then stopped behind me. Letting out an inward sigh, I straightened from looking at some particularly wrinkled pears and turned to face her, "Yes Aes Sedai?"

Galina appeared slightly suprised that I knew she was there, which would mean she was very suprised or possibly even stunned, and raised an eyebrow in compliment with her serene face to bring the ball back in her court. Aes Sedai serenity didn't disturb me, I had dealt with screaming babies when I had worked at a nursery for a dare over the summer. Serenity was nice. "I would like to speak with you Master Taylor," Galina asked respectfully, and it was my turn to be suprised. Galina was the 'Highest', or the leader of the Red Ajah and a black sister to boot. Not just any black sister, a member of the Supreme Council of the Black Ajah, needless to say she had a very large ego. If she was asking nicely, then there was more information about me on the streets than I wanted known.

I wasn't rude though, and she hadn't tried to force me into doing anything, yet. "Of course Galina Sedai, if you could just wait one moment?" She nodded graciously and I turned back to the street vendor who was now giving me a reserved look, and paid for one of the pears. It was wrinkled, but still juicy, and I loved pears.

She led be back through the crowd to a coach, and invited me inside. Remembering my manners, I declined and assisted her in before me. If we were going to play games, I would hold nothing back. I wasn't so reserved about my pear though, I didn't cut it up in order to eat it, it was a pear. Biting into it with gusto, but careful not to make a mess of myself, I ate the delicious fruit and waited for Galina to say something.

Eventually she seemed to decide that enough time had been given for me to eat and began, "There are enough rumors running through the streets about the mysterious man who accompanies the Dragon Reborn to fill a grainery, some claim you are an Andorman, others that you are an Illianer who has shaved his beard. Other rumors claim you can channel," her gaze hardened at that, not much, but enough so that I would know (if I was smart enough to see it) that if that was true she intended to gentle me herself. "Most revolve around your connection to Moiraine Damodred, and the time you spent closeted away with her."

I wasn't sure exactly where this was going, was she trying to get me to spy on Rand, give up the wearabouts of Moiraine? "I spent a good deal of time closeted away with the Dragon Reborn as well," I began, but she cut me off.

"Of course, but Moiraine is of more importance. You wouldn't have known of course, but Moiraine has been charged with treason agasint the White Tower. There is a warrant out for her arrest."

"Moiraine Damodred Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah died killing the Forsaken Lanfear as she was trying to destroy the Dragon Reborn, Aes Sedai, I will not have you slandering her name with White Tower politics."

"Of course," Galina said appeasingly, "I only wanted to inform you of her, um, place in the Tower."

"I have heard the rumors, several of which were proven false. Siuan Sanche's death was greatly over exagerated, as well as the claim that she is a Darkfriend."

Galina seemed to reasses her view of me, Red sisters rarely saw men in a good light and that must have led some to believe that most men were stupid. Galina must have assumed that, and was now backtracking and trying to find another way to win me over. "Rumors heard a city over are never the truth they originated from," and that seemed to be the end of that discussion. There was a pause before she went on, "You seem to be very familiar with Rand al'Thor, has he spoken to you about our embassy?"

"Rand rarely speaks with me about those things, I find myself playing the part of a bard more than his confidant. I am there to talk about things not involved with his preparation for Tarmon Gai'don, if he has the urge to confide in me it is usually concerning matters of women or his weapons training."

"Women?" Inwardly I congratulated myself on the lies I had just spouted, and that it had been believed so readily. I had walked in on a meeting definately concerned with Rand's preperation for Tarmon Gai'don but Galina seemed to have overlooked that.

The coach came to a stop, well a more permanant one than the regular stops in the streets due to the congestion of the streets, and the door of the coach opened. Two Warders were waiting, and I started to get nervous. They couldn't hurt me, not with the barrier of the Power I had wrapped around myself, but this was too coordinated. Galina hadn't happened upon me and invited me back to the Lady Arilyn's palace, as I had first assumed. This was all planned out.

Galina ushered me towards the door of the palace and I felt very much as if I was walking into a trap. Hoping it was just nerves at being around so many potentially hostile Aes Sedai, I listened to Galina talk about their wishes to bring the Dragon Reborn to Tar Valon so that he could be safe until Tarmon Gai'don. She was working herself into quite a speech, and it was making me ever so bored. I almost yawned, but managed to stifle it before it became more than a fancy.

"He must, of course, rely on the guidance of the White Tower in order to be victorious at the Last Battle."

I had listened long enough, Galina was drawing me ever closer to the seemingly gaping jaws of the palace and I didn't want to go in at all. I was having a hard time following what the Red was saying with the constant feeling of malice coming from the palace. I could feel the Aes Sedai channeling inside the building, and wondered how many were in there now. More than the original six of course, but how many more? Did they have angreal? Or even a sa'angreal? With those and a circle, they could very well overpower me with little effort.

"And what guidance would you offer?" I asked Galina before she could push me any farther. "What advice would you give him? You cannot teach him how to control Saidin, and he will have to use the Power at Tarmon Gai'don if he is to defeat the Dark One. Aes Sedai can only teach him politics and history Galina, both are things he will need but he can be taught those outside of the Tower. He could be taught away from women who might not feel that being the Dragon Reborn is enough reason to not gentle him." There was movement inside the doorway, maybe it was a servant going about business but my gut was telling me that the movement was a careless mistake of either a Warder or an Aes Sedai waiting for me.

The Red sister tried to take my arm, tried to lead me to the slaughter. That gesture from this woman set alarm bells in my head pealing as loud as they could, and I set myself against being moved. "What is wrong Taylor? You should come in out of the sun so we can discuss what the Tower can teach the al'Thor boy."

"Thank you Aes Sedai, but I think I have heard enough. I appreciate your hospitality but I really must be getting back to the Sun Palace."

Galina dropped her pleasant demenor and she embraced Saidar, "Listen boy," all pretence of being a good-natured woman had left her, "you are coming inside with me, and then you are going to tell me everything you know abou Rand al'Thor." There was a dangerous gleem in her eyes, and her posture suggested she was ready to attack me with her belt knife.

"No."

Galina appeared shocked, "No?" Her eyes darted to the open door and back so quickly I almost missed it, there were Aes Sedai just inside the doorway! "There is nothing you can do to stop me." She wove flows of Air around me and my arms and legs pulled together until I was standing at a very squished attention. "I am Aes Sedai boy, there was never any question of how this was going to happen, only the method of getting answers from you."

If I was taken inside, there was a chance that the Aes Sedai inside had angreal or sa'angreal enough to overpower me. I might be able to take them by suprise if they did have angreal, but I might fail in the attempt and the sisters inside would know I could channel. If I freed myself here I had a better chance of getting away, the answer was painfully obvious.

"Release me witch, and I'll pretend this never happened," well she was a witch, she could use 'magic' and she was working on the side of evil. Good magic users were sorceresses. Galina's eyes narrowed, and I started floating towards the open doors.

Reaching for Saidin, I didn't want them to know I could channel Saidar, I sliced the flows of Air that bound me and I landed a bit awkwardly about twenty paces from the door. There was a moment where no one did anything, except me. I took advantage of the oporitunity I had given myself and wove a gateway as fast as I could. The silver doorway turned open and I threw up a barrier of the Power to stop the shield that Galina tried to put over me. Another barrier went up against the fireballs that came flying out of the open palace and I threw myself through the gateway and landed on a king-size bed. A lightning bolt flew over my head and then the gateway closed behind me. I breathed hard, trying to calm myself as I drifted somewhere outside of time and space. I could have defeated Galina and twenty more Aes Sedai, but the chance that they had angreal or sa'angreal was too great for me to stick around and see.

The books never mentioned if they had brought angreal, they didn't say that the Aes Sedai hadn't either. Several of the Forsaken had angreal, Graendal would get an angreal later unless I found it when we went to Illian before she did. Mesaana most likely had at least one Angreal, she was in the Tower after all. Sammael more than likely had a ter'angreal that could cause problems for me or Rand if he brought one when they faced off.

I returned to the palace, Skimming such short distances was just as fast as Traveling, and made sure that I stayed away from the Embassy Aes Sedai after that.

The Aes Sedai's eyes focused immediately on Egwene. The Wise Ones might as well not have existed. "Egwene al'Vere," Sheriam said formally, it had to be Sheriam, she was the only one with red hair, "you are summoned before the Hall of the Tower." Her tilted green eyes shone with some suppressed emotion. I watched in silence, above the meeting and hidden behind a thought I had 'dreamed' up.

"Ask not why you are summoned," Carlinya said right behind Sheriam, her icy voice making the formality even harder. "It is yours to answer, not to question."

"Delay not in your coming. It is yours to obey in haste." Anaiya told the Accepted.

The three spoke in unison. "It is well to fear the summons of the Hall. It is well to obey in haste and humility, unasking. You are summoned to kneel before the Hall of the Tower and accept their judgment."

I left Tel'aran'rhiod, that hadn't changed thank the Light! Rand had gone off to Caemlyn without a word sometime after the meeting with the Tower Aes Sedai, he left a note for me telling me that he wanted to talk with me when he returned. But he hadn't yet, I saw him in Tel'aran'rhiod watching the women talk before I left. He was going to go to Mat now, and send him and Aviendha to rescue Egwene and bring Elayne and Nynaeve.

Waking easily, my bags already packed and ready to be grabbed at a moments notice, I left a note for the servants and wove a gateway. I lifted the bags onto my back and stepped through into the Palace stables where a horse I had riden several times was. Firedancer was saddled and ready to ride a few moments later when gold glinted in the moonlight and a scramble by the stable hands saw the job done in half the time it normally would have taken. Another gateway took me to the stables in Caemlyn and another glint of gold got the horse fodder and a stall without complaint for the early hour. It was lucky that none had noticed the gateway I had woven or there would have been screaming.

I waited outside the rooms Rand shared with Aviendha, the Maidens that were guarding the doors played cat's cradle while we waited for him to emerge, and when he strode around the corner and jumped near out of his skin at seeing me, I had a hard time not laughing.

"You really do know everything!" He managed after closing his mouth. "I suppose you're going with Mat then?"

"Yes, I can come and speak with you every two days but it might be hard to find you if you keep jumping around like this," my wry grin made him smile faintly, I could jump around faster than he could and he had come to see me several times when I wasn't there.

"Every two days," he repeated, "no, unless there is something dire to report don't bother trying to meet with me. If anyone notices how you come and go as I do there will be talk of the Forsaken."

I winced, I hadn't thought about that. Looking back on the past few days I wondered how many people wondered at my method of disappearing and reappearing so quickly. The Tower Aes Sedai probably thought I was one of the Forsaken, or maybe that Rand had taught me how to Travel. I was just lucky that they hadn't started rumors about me being one of the Forsaken and that Rand was under my control. Rand went into the rooms and a little while later, the whole time the Maidens guarding his door stared at me, he and Aviendha came out with her carrying a sack of her belongings over one shoulder. I had brought my saddlebags with me so with the Maidens that had guarded the door we all went through the gateway Rand made to Travel to the camp of the Red Hand.

A scout nearly died of shock when we stepped out of the air in front of him, but a few words were exchanged and he ran into camp with the two veiled Aiel moving silently in front of Rand and Aviendha two paces behind him. Behind all of them, leading our horses, I wondered if Mat would be any more pleased to see me than he would to find out what Rand meant to do.

Mat was not happy. "You!" He almost wheezed when he saw me after Rand left. "Blood and bloody ashes not you!"

"We have to talk Mat, or else I'll never get anything done." He looked warily at Aviendha, then at me again.

"Olver," he said, stuffing his pipe bowl with tabac, "ask Talmanes, Nalesean and Daerid to come to me." Exactly as he had said in the books, "I'll talk to you afterwards." And with that he disappeared back into the tent. Talmanes and Nalesean came trotting up a few moments later, looked at me once and vanished into the tent, Daerid looked twice when he came later, and gave a start when he noticed my ears. I sighed, Perrin probably got the same with his amber colored eyes.

"His ears!" Was all I heard before he was shushed to silence, and then Mat told them what had happened, why they were going, and what they needed to do. Rand went to where we appeared before and stayed there, holding Saidin so he would know the area well enough to make a gateway in a shorter time.

Listening to Mat give directions and order men older than himself around was interesting, I was so engrosed in it I didn't hear the first small cough behind me. A second louder one was harder to miss so I turned to face Aviendha, "Rand al'Thor wishes to speak with you Taylor," she told me, I tried to remember if this was the first time she had spoken to me.

"Of course, thank you Aviendha."

Walking through the camp, now a bustle of activity, I was almost run down by a man carrying an armload of pikes to the wagons on the west side of the camp, and then nearly trampled by a group of horsemen parading through the night. As if that wasn't enough, the Aiel Maidens that had come with Rand had spears to my throat before I was within twenty paces of the Car'a'carn. It unnerved me that they could just appear out of thin air even when I was looking around as closely as possible without embracing the True Source.

"Rand, you asked for me?" The spears lowered, a bit. The cadin 'sor of the Aiel blended so well with the surroundings that Warders were hard pressed to find Aiel when they did not want to be found, at night it was damn near impossible to see them even when they were moving.

"Taylor," the spears fell away entirely and the Maidens dissolved into the night, "I need you to watch Mat's back, he's promised to bring Elayne back to Andor. And Egwene and Nynaeve too if they want," he mentioned them as an afterthought, "but I need Mat as much as I need Elayne, watch his back?"

"I'll do what I can, but things have to happen a certain way if what I know is going to happen." Rand heaved a sigh that sounded half relief and half resignation.

"Does Elayne make it to Caemlyn?" It wasn't really a question, Rand made it sound as if he were musing to himself.

"She gets the majority and will take the Lion Throne if nothing amiss happens. I don't know for sure, but from what I do it would be very hard to stop that from happening."

This time the sigh was of complete relief, "And Nynaeve and Egwene?"

"Don't worry about those two, Egwene can handle herself and Nynaeve will get all the protection she needs elsewhere."

"And what about me?"

I paused for a long time, trying to decide if I should say anything or not. Cadsuane might not get into his good graces if he wasn't nearly killed by Fain. "Padan Fain is going to be a problem again," Rand stiffened at the name, "he is going to try and kill you next time you meet, I suggest that when he disappears you should watch your back. I will try to be there when it happens, but if I am not, he will be attacking from behind."

Rand nodded, it was all I was giving and all he knew he was going to get. Aviendha looked at the two of us, at me mostly, and then sat on the ground. Arranging her skirts took a fair bit of time, and it was nice to see a pretty face, but I wasn't interested in Aviendha.

Mat and I reached an agreement four hours into the next day's riding, I explained as much as I could to him and he accepted it. I told him that I had let no one know about him or his secret and that seemed to take a large anvil from both his shoulders. Things were quite pleasant after that, I didn't walk beside Mat, and I was careful never to touch his skin. I didn't want to be a general as well as all the other things. Firedancer was being ridden by one of Mat's soldiers because I wasn't riding him. All the men with us stared at me the first day, I had as much endurance as any Aiel and the Band was moving slowly so it wasn't hard to keep up on foot. I walked with Aviendha most of the time but she never said anything. The last day I rode Firedancer and the soldier who had been riding looked especially gloomy that night.

Vanin came back from scouting Salidar on the final days ride, and told Mat about the Warders taking two of the sentries. Aviendha went off towards where Vanin had indicated, Mat picked out several men to hold the furled banners and went after her with a significant look in my direction. I heeled my horse after him and Moiraine followed after me. After a short walk we caught up to Aviendha and she got up behind Mat, the two spoke for a moment and then were silent. Aviendha had put on the snowflake necklace Egwene had given to her, and an ivory bracelet that Rand had given her. Going like a pig to the slaughter, except that Aviendha couldn't know that the Aes Sedai would butcher her first.

With Mat and Aviendha riding Pips, and the rest of us following we entered Salidar. I wanted to feel disappointed, but all the Aes Sedai faces made me worry slightly. I was easily strong enough to overpower thirteen linked women but with all these Aes Sedai. Moiraine was one of the strongest Aes Sedai before Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne, and there were several here as strong as her. Enough linked circles of thirteen would press my luck to it's limits, if I even got a chance to test it. I heeled Firedancer so that we were riding side by side, and when Mat asked to see the three girls we had been sent for we were led to a three story cube of an inn that I knew was affectionately called the 'Little Tower'.

When our little group reached the building the Aes Sedai who had led us said, "Wait here," and swept into the inn. We all dismounted, and I realized my mistake.

Aes Sedai swarmed around us, most were interested in Mat or Aviendha but some where looking at me. I had woven an illusion to hide my ears but the Aes Sedai were liable to take me by the ear and tell me off if I did something rude (which I might have done anyway)and they would feel the points of my ears. A girl I knew would have to be Nicola, who would try to blackmail Egwene, came forward with another Aes Sedai.

"Are you sure, child?" she asked the novice. Anaiya was the Aes Sedai's name, she would start the questions about Aviendha, or about me, and then both of us would be led off.

The young woman's mouth tightened slightly, but she certainly let no irritation into her voice. "He still seems to glow, or shine. I really do see it. I just don't know why."

Anaiya gave her a delighted smile. "He's ta'veren, Nicola. You've uncovered your first Talent. You can see ta'veren. Now back to, the class with you. Quickly. You don't want to fall behind." Nicola bobbed a curtsy and, with a last glance at Mat, burrowed away through the encircling Aes Sedai.

Several of the Aes Sedai were staring quite openly at me, my bloody pretty face! Whispering to each other in a conspiritory way. Anaiya managed to wrench her eyes from me and looked at Aviendha, "And what is your name child?" I almost whistled, even with me there the Pattern wove the same way I had read. If I directly took a hand in changing events then I could alter events, but if I didn't do anything directly, it was an interesting thought.

Aviendha faced her squarely, a head taller and using every hair of it. "I am Aviendha, of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel." Anaiya's mouth quirked toward a smile at the note of defiance. I sighed and a few of the Aes Sedai who had been drawn from me returned their ageless stares. I sighed again.

I heard the next question although I couldn't see the Illianer who spoke, "Do you be aware you can channel, girl?"

"Aviendha," I said quietly, "hold on to my arm." She looked at me, at my face, and grabbed hold of my arm.

"I am," she replied to the Illianer Aes Sedai.

Despite all my efforts, Aviendha was ripped away from me and hustled off to where the Aes Sedai who had gathered around her could try and convince her to don Novice white. And that left me completely unprotected, not that the other men weren't a buffer but I was pale even from being out in the sun for so long. Oddities were something that Aes Sedai picked up on quickly and two sisters singled me out and asked me to talk with them for a moment. I refused politely, protesting that I wouldn't want to waste their time.

A Warder in the crowd noticed my blade, how it hung on me and how I moved. Ever since touching Lan I had been beyond a blademaster and everything that went with it, a deadly grace that matched Warders hung about me and if I was alert Aiel got itchy fingers. He noticed, and jerked his head away from the crowd. I apologized my way through the crowd and followed after the Gaidin. He led us to a cleared area where three pairs of men were moving through the forms or sparing with one another.

"Have you trained at the Tower? I've never seen a man move like you do without some training there, or did you study under a blademaster?" The Warder was a middle sized man with almost scrawny shoulders, a pinched mouth and a beak of a nose made me wonder if he was Saldaean.

"I taught myself, with some assistance from a swordsman I met," he looked doubtful, from the way I held myself I was a trained swordsman, I was even walking in a stance I knew as Lepoard Stalking the Field. It was similar to the current form of walking but I didn't know the name.

"Would you care for a duel? I would like to see how well you handle yourself, if that isn't a problem?" The gibe was obvious, the Warder wasn't very old, probably newly bonded and a little arrogant.

I unbuckled my sword and removed my coat, I had almost forgotten to start sweating again before we came within scouting distance of Salidar. Not allowing the heat or cold to touch you was more difficult than I had thought when reading about it and it took me nearly a week to get the concentration right. A practice sword was handed to me by another Warder and I hefted it, spun it a few times, and gave it back. Brousing among the swords I found one that was balanced as well as my own sword and took it back onto the duelling ring.

"You can't defeat a Warder," an Accepted whispered to me when I was walking to the ring, "you'll be hit before you know what happened." I smiled at the woman, winked at her, then got into a comfortable position before we began..

Taking my place at the opposite side of the ring, I walked forward as the Warder did and we touched swords. A thought occured to me right then, if I defeated the Warder would and Aes Sedai want to bond me? The dance began, and I forgot about whatever I had been worrying about. Whirling through forms that seemed more a part of me than some of my memories, I deflected blows and struck the Warder twice in our first pass. We seperated, he was studying me, trying to figure out how I had gotten past him. The second I scored no blows but came close twice, he was taking me seriously now. Seperating again I noticed he didn't have the slightly arrogant gleam in his eyes anymore. Adder Strikes struck on the third pass and I felt the Warder's bundle of sticks whistle over my head as I connected solidly in his ribs with a thrust that would have punched right through him had we been using real swords. Air rushed out of the man's mouth and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Three passes, well I thought of them as passes, it was more like three sets of forms. Direct Blow finished off the Warder, and the others in the courtyard were staring at us. I wasn't even breathing hard, the Warder that tried to kidnap me was much better than this man.

Saluting, I backed away four paces and turned to find six Aes Sedai looking at me appraisingly. I groaned inwardly, why did I have to show off? Two Warders were giving me more of their attention than I had seen any Warder devote to one thing so far. The six Aes Sedai though, three had strips of grey in their hair and two didn't even have the ageless face brought on by the Oath Rod. The last was a blue I wondered if I should recognize, but laughed at the thought, how was I expected to know Aes Sedai?

"Have you ever considered becoming a Warder young man?" One of the greying women asked me, each of the others sent withering looks at her. Apparently Aes Sedai were supposed to ask when they were alone with a man.

"No."

That didn't dissuade her a hair, but before she could speak another Warder asked if I would accept a challenge to a duel. I agreed quickly, if I missed a step when talking to the Aes Sedai I would become a Warder before I realized I had agreed to anything.

It must have looked like dancing, I couldn't think of another way to describe what we were doing. A deadly dance, if you weren't careful and were using steel instead of bundled sticks, and possibly deadly even with the practice swords. My forms were superior to the Warder's forms, but it took a good deal longer for this man to realize I was toying with him than the Warder in the woods. When he did he charged, opening himself up for an attack, but instead of taking it I sidestepped and tripped him with my foot.

To any but a swordsman it would have seemed as though I cracked him on the head and managed not to make a sound, but the Warders were looking at me differently now. A crowd had formed, Novices were looking adoringly at the handsome Gaidin bare to the waste duelling with a palely beautiful man that sent each one off in defeat. The third Warder was actually a challenge, and I made sure to give him everything I had. That duel was more enjoyable than any other, and I made sure to get his name while I was helping him up. Seven Warders defeated, and I finally started feeling a little tired. My endurance was something I had never tested, I knew was able to run all day like Aiel but duels were a different kind of exercise. Each duel lasted no more than a few minutes, some ended with the Warder yielding, and some with the Warder needing Healing from Aes Sedai. I lost myself in the motions, gliding through forms I knew so well it seemed as if I had always known them. After the ninth duel, the sun had passed farther in the sky than I had realized and begged pardon to leave. Several Aes Sedai looked at me hungrily, I had thought Aes Sedai would search out the right man but I had guessed wrong, they didn't need to serch when I made such a display.

My shirt, coat, and sword were laying in the neat pile where I had left them and I had scrambled into my shirt before the second Aes Sedai came over to speak with me.

"Your skill is as yet unmatched," the compliment was meant to ease me, it made my brain go into overdrive. I had tried to argue with Moiraine when we had come to subjects we disagreed on but I always lost, no matter the argument and no matter whether I was truly right or not. If Aes Sedai were anything like her I had to be ready for tricks I wouldn't see until the sixth sentence later.

"Thank you Aes Sedai," a polite response, not stand-offish but not welcoming more compliments. She either ignored my tone or missed my meaning.

"Warder's are endowed with gifts that would only increase your ability," the treat, Light were they so caught up in their own mystery they didn't notice how obvious they were?

"I have no wish to become a Warder, Aes Sedai. I am happy with my current lifestyle. Besides, I wouldn't make a good Warder. I don't take orders well."

The golden haired Aes Sedai gave me an exasperated look and swept away, she wasn't wearing a shawl but two Warders trailed after her when she left marking her as a Green. No other Aes Sedai approached me, I had refused two now and they would give me time before another approached.

An arm latched on to mine, Aviendha had somehow managed to escape the Aes Sedai. "How did you get away? I would have thought they would have you in Novice white already."

"They were persistant," it was all she was going to say. Until a group of Aes Sedai walked around a corner and focused on the Aiel woman like birds of prey on a mouse. "Taylor."

"I tried last time, I don't see how I'll keep you from them this time but I will try again." Aviendha didn't look at me, but I looked at her and would have grinned if it wouldn't have shamed her. She looked hunted, it wasn't very obvious but for an Aiel to give away that much suprised me. The Aes Sedai must really have unnerved her.

There were ways that you can hold a woman's arm that displayed your relationship with her, Aviendha and I would have appeared friends, I think. She did not look like a content woman on a man's arm, she was holding on for support if you could see that through the Aiel mask.

Novices in white stared at me in awe, Accepted stopped classes as I passed to watch the man who had defeated nine Warders without taking a single blow. I cringed slightly, it couldn't have been worse if I had channelled. Well it could have, but I hadn't wanted to make such a fuss. If only I wasn't so puffed up in my power, a man using a sa'angreal would be hard pressed to beat me alone, with the angreal I now had it would be near impossible for men or women to defeat me even using strong sa'angreal. Skill with the blade wasn't my only weapon, knives, spears, the quarterstaff, all were weapon enough to make me a formidable enemy against ten or more men at once, well maybe not ten.

"My heads getting bigger every second," I muttered to myself, Aviendha grinned at me for a moment then saw an Aes Sedai and her former stoniness returned. Directing a smile at two Novices that we passed, apparently the news of the undefeated blademaster had spread all over camp, they blushed and went into a fit of giggles. I laughed quietly to myself and Aviendha smiled too, Moiraine had told me I was handsome but fear of vanity kept me from examining myself in the mirror. The changes that had made my ears and skin they way they were had continued, but much slower than the instant effects that first night. I was moderately muscled when I came, now I was corded muscle to the bone but I hadn't grown any larger. I was handsome then, now I was pretty and how it gauled me to admit it! Other things had changed, my senses were more acute, I was faster than ever before, and my strength in Saidar and Saidin kept growing larger. Moiraine had told me looking at me when I held as much Saidar as I could hold was like staring at the sun, and I hadn't bothered to ask Rand how much stronger I was than him.

I was planning on taking Aviendha to see Elayne, they needed to talk and I wasn't sure if Aviendha was supposed to escape those Aes Sedai, so we headed for the 'Little Tower'. "You!" The same tone Mat had used when he saw me, part horror, part confusion, and a large part surprise. Nynaeve was standing poleaxed on the step of the Little Tower and I didn't do much better. Nynaeve had seen me with Rand when Rahvin was killed and heard me make some interesting statements and might have heard one I wanted no one but Rand to hear. There was no sense crying over spilt milk, I could clean it up.

"Nynaeve Sedai," I said formally as soon as my muscles decided they would work again and gave a small bow, "is Elayne Sedai inside? Aviendha wanted to speak with her." Aes Sedai faces had turned when Nynaeve had shouted, and I didn't want her speaking out before I could quiet her.

Nodding wordlessly, Nynaeve gestured for me to follow her back inside the building. The door opened before we got there and Elayne stepped out, Aviendha flinched and I squeezed her arm in encouragement. "You'll be fine Aviendha."

Elayne stared at myself and Aviendha for a moment, then took Aviendha and led her away. I followed Nynaeve inside and to the back of the inn. Aes Sedai, Accepted and Novices were moving about in a business like manner getting things done, but it seemed a farce somehow. Maybe they hadn't really started getting ready to take on the Tower yet, the Gaiden certainly had time to spare. Nynaeve opened a door and I saw a flame haired woman speaking with Egwene, Sheriam then.

The two of them were sideways to us, but they both turned to see who was interrupting them. Egwene's eyes widened, but Sheriam looked a judge about to pass sentence.

"Excuse me Mother, I wondered if I could speak with you?" Sheriam looked as though she wanted to bite my head off, and I was watching to see if she embraced Saidar, "I can come back later, I'll be with Mat while we are here."

Still staring at me, it took Egwene a moment to respond, "Yes, later. I think that would be best. I'll send for you later."

"As you command Mother, so do I obey," I bowed and stepped back. Nynaeve closed the door then turned to me with an odd expression on her face. She tugged her braid so she must have been angry and was trying to hide it. "I don't suppose there is somewhere we could talk without all these Aes Sedai trying to eavesdrop on us?" A few Novices and Accepted blushed as they hurried past, embarrased that they had been caught listening in. The Aes Sedai I had noticed seemed not to have heard. Nynaeve led me to an inn where I assumed she and Elayne slept, I was right. She opened the door on and upstairs room and Elayne and Aviendha lept to their feet. It looked as though Aviendha had just gotten over the news of Min because she still looked a little peaved.

"You're Taylor," the Daughter-Heir of Andor stated, it sounded as if she was expecting someone more grandious.

"I am, and yes I'll try to explain a few things." Elayne closed her mouth, cutting off the intended question. It took a while, but I explained about what I knew of my abilities, my physical capabilities and a small intro into my knowledge of things going on here.

"You, learn things, when you touch people?" Nynaeve had gone pale when I explained that, but gained composure when I assured her it had not happened when I had touched her, Elayne seemed more interested in studying me than frightened.

"Yes, and when I learn anything the pain involved is enough to make me never want it to happen again. Of course I didn't ask for the Aiel to touch me, or the woman who taught me grace, or for the two men to bump into me when they were practicing with quarterstaffs." I had explained this all before but questions had to be repeated or women didn't understand it.

"Rand touched you," Aviendha's voice was quite, "and you had one of your pains. Is that how you learned Saidin?"

"I believe I could have been taught to use Saidin, or that I had the spark born in me like Rand, just the same as I could have learned to use Saidar had an Aes Sedai taken the time to teach me. For some reason I can't explain, after I've learned something it's as if I have only remembered it." The women were noticably agitated and I wondered what the problem was before realizing it, "Saidin is different for me, it's not tainted, what I draw on. I asked Rand and he said that the Taint was like a slick oil on the surface of it and I don't feel that, I linked with him once and he told me that it felt clean." I was still trying to figure out how all this worked, so explaining it was difficult, "I would appreciate it if you did not discuss this with anyone but Egwene." Egwene had been hounding me whenever I was around her for answers, what I had told them was more than she already knew and it would probably stop her from making every Aes Sedai in Salidar try to detain me.

Aviendha spoke first, "I will not reveal your secret Taylor."

Elayne and Nynaeve spoke together, "Neither will we." They looked at each other in slight surprise then turned back to me.

"Thank you," I pressed hand to heart in a small salute, "I don't suppose you could ask Egwene to declare me off limits to Aes Sedai wishing to bond me their Warder?" All three looked confused so I explained about my duels with the Warders before I met with Nynaeve. They were impressed of course, but I stressed the fact that I wanted them to speak with Egwene. Nynaeve agreed, and I saw Elayne rise to follow before I shut the door. When I reached the stairs I heard the door open and she ran to catch up with me.

Her beautiful face was framed by the so often mentioned golden red hair her mother had passed on to her, and she grabbed my hand before I could get a foot onto the steps, "Is Rand well?" She blushed slightly, she hadn't asked Mat about Rand and Aviendha hadn't sated her questions about Rand apparently.

"Rand is well, but you need to understand something," how to explain this to her? "When Egwene told you that he wants to give you the Lion Throne," her face darkened, "he meant it that way, and not at the same time. He knows you have the strongest claim to it as the Daughter-Heir but I don't think he understands that there will be a sucession. He wants you there to keep Andor whole, with you on the throne and willingly allied to the Dragon Reborn he doesn't have to worry about Andor."

"He wants me there to take Andor of his hands? What is his explaination for putting the Lion Throne on a pedistal?" She was angry, but a composed angry.

"It's not a trophy if that's what you're thinking, he put it there because he wants everyone to know he isn't sitting in it. Besides the fact that it's too small for any man, he doesn't want to rule Andor. Rand thinks of himself as a steward while you're gone, or maybe just a temporary ruler if even that." I was getting myself slightly confused with all this explaination, "The point is Rand wants you to rule Andor, not him."

She was silent for a time, her hand still holding mine. "Thank you for trying to explain," Elayne lifted onto tip-toes and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

"He is in love with you," she froze, her lips still on my cheek, "and Aviendha." I didn't tell her he would love Min, and that he would sleep with her, it just wasn't something a man said to a woman in love. Lowering back onto her heels she stared into my eyes, and then walked back to her and Nynaeve's room.

Egwene had been slightly satisfied, she summoned me to speak with her after Elayne and Nynaeve had gone to talk with her. It was an interesting conversation, she believed many things about me that weren't true and she couldn't believe some things about me that I thought would be accepted right off. The woman was irritatingly adamant that I must know more than I claimed but seemed to believe I didn't know half of what I did. I tried to explain that my knowledge of the events yet to come was a possibility as much as her interpretations of dreams but she didn't want to believe that. I ended up leaving completely exasperated without an answer of whether I was safe from Aes Sedai trying to bond me. That had been the last thing we talked about, and she claimed it would be interfearing in other sister's business so it was not in her power.

"Become my Warder?" A lovely woman finished. She was Accepted, but somewhere during our conversation she had asked me if I could keep a secret and then asked me to become her Warder but not tell anyone until she was raised to be a full sister. I had to push her away finally when she wouldn't stop asking and she was probably the least of my problems. Two Aes Sedai that had approached me at the same time got into an argument that nearly turned into shouting and hair pulling before I slipped away, Novices invited me to join them for conversation while they did chores which I accepted, and others in white asked if I wanted to take a walk with them. It passed the time, but it was very obvious every one of them wanted me to be their Warder. Three Accepted asked me if I would wait for them to become Aes Sedai so they could bond me, four Green sisters asked me directly and a few more sent their Warders to see if I even wanted to become Gaidin. Two Blues, one White, a Brown, three Yellows and a Grey all tried to bully me into becoming their Warder, and I was sure they were going to try again. I must have had a hunted look in my eyes because Mat saw me dodging a group of Aes Sedai walking towards me and intercepted me after I dove into an empty building when a Green that had asked me twice already came into view. All of this was happening while the celebration of Egwene being raised Amyrlin was going on.

"You too?" Mat asked, he looked over his shoulder and shivered at the small group of women watching the two of us talk.

By the time I had eaten breakfast the next day I was ready to weep in frustration, the Aes Sedai who had been asking me came one at a time but managed to pop up everywhere. Warders came of their own volition as well, asking if I would teach them the forms I used or asked if I wished to duel. I refused everyone, even the soldiers from Bryne's camp who came to see the undefeated swordsman. I was too tired to fight properly, it was not practical to accept a duel when I was in no condition to do so. That's what I told myself at least. The tales of my exploits now claimed I had defeated six Warders with one arm tied behind my back.

"Taylor?" A woman asked from behind me.

"No I will not be your," words died on my lips as I turned around, Birgitte Silverbow stood there in her coat and trousers and the intricate braid of gold hair hanging over her shoulder. "Oh I'm sorry," masking my stare was hard but I should have remembered Elayne's Warder, "I thought you were Aes Sedai."

Her grin would have made any man nervous, "I saw what you could do, I'm surprised an Aes Sedai hasn't bonded you without your permission!" She laughed at that, slapping her knee lightly in very tavern like behaviour. "I also saw the line up of Aes Sedai trying to convince you to say yes," she wiped a tear from her eye, "I hope you manage to stay one step ahead of them." She held out her hand for me to shake and I took it. She had a strong grip, and she smiled roguishly before letting go of my hand.

A Domani woman walked towards me next, she didn't have the ageless face and I wondered who she was when recognition hit me like a hammer between the eyes when I felt her strength in the Power. It was more a guess than actually recognizing her, but a Domani woman who could channel without the ageless face must be her. Leana, the former Keeper who had been stilled along with Siuan Sanche when Eliada had deposed the former Amyrlin Seat. Now a Green, she did not have the ageless face of an Aes Sedai but I hadn't seen any other Domani with the Great Serpent ring on their right hand that didn't have the ageless face. "Taylor," she curtsied slightly, several women had tried to call me Lord, or master but I had stamped that down seconds after it started, "I wish to speak with you privately."

"Of course Aes Sedai," she walked a step ahead and walked a little apart from the bustle of Salidar.

"The Amyrlin told me about you," I gritted my teeth angrily, I should have remembered that Siuan and Leana were close friends of all three of the new Aes Sedai. "I was wondering if you knew a way to," she cut it off abruptly but I knew what she was after.

"I can't," she dropped her head in sorrow, "not here." Her head shot up and a smile bloomed across her face that made her seem capable of lighting a dark room.

"Siuan?" I nodded and she almost giggled with delight. "When? Where? How?"

"Tomorrow, but I can't make any promises on how strong you'll be." She dashed away quickly, looking crestfallen. Anyone who had seen us talking would think she asked me to be her Warder, she was too clever for her own good.

"What was that all about?" Mat appeared at my side when I headed for the stable where the Red Arms were staying.

"Another Aes Sedai asking me to be her Warder. She's a Green without a Warder, I think she's newly raised.

"How can you stand it?" He asked when he fell in beside me. "More Aes Sedai have told me that I am going to be their Warder than have not!"

"You think I enjoy this?" I gestured behind me where four Aes Sedai were following, either for Mat or me, or both. "They're coming around for a third time each!"

We were in the same boat, him being ta'veren made the Aes Sedai want to put a halter on him so they could keep a close eye, and me being the amazing swordsman and dazzlingly handsome man that I am. Well maybe I was flattering myself too much, I knew that vanity would creep up on me if I looked in the mirror. Mat sighed heavily and looked about as glum as I felt. If the Aes Sedai kept this up I might cave from a desire to stop it all.

That night there was more dancing in the streets and I had an amazingly good time, when Aes Sedai weren't trying to get me to agree to be their Warder. I didn't know the tunes or any of the dances before that night, but it seemed as soon as I heard the first song I knew the dance that they were dancing to it. More and more, knowledge seemed to pop into my head without rhyme or reason. I was just glad that I wasn't going into fits each time I learned anything knew.

Linking arms with two women when it was my turn to enter this part of the dance, I felt someone embrace Saidin. Acting as if I felt nothing, I followed the circle until I could see the woman who held the Power. Halima, Aran'gar, formerly Balthamel and one of the Forsaken. The weave, compulsion, reached out for Mat and vanished when it touched him. Mat froze, then turned around slowly to see Halima staring open-mouthed at him. I laughed in amuzement and the single woman on my arm laughed with me, we were laughing for different reasons but no one could have known that.

Dancing was different from dueling, but even with my endurance I was exhausted by the time I left the festivities. There would be more dancing tomorrow night but by then I would be on my way to Ebou Dar with Mat, Elayne and Birgitte, Nynaeve, Vandene and Adeleas, and Mat's Red Arms. Falling down beside a sleeping Mat, I breathed out a sigh of content. Tonight was the first time I had been here that I had acutally enjoyed myself, with nothing holding me back. I hoped I would get to do this again, I felt so relaxed as I drifted off to sleep.

Another **A/N: Interesting chapter, and difficult considering I'm re-writing the whole thing. Originally, I had Moiraine go with Taylor when he went to the Tower of Ghenjei****, it made dialog difficult and trying to fit her into the scenarios was a pain but I did it. And then I decided I didn't want her there anymore. Plah! Why am I telling you in this chapter? Because I decided to, I AM THE AUTHOR AND I HAVE THE POWA!!! Until the next chapter...**


	10. Chapter 10 : Ebou Dar Ho!

**A/N: Short Chapter, not too much meat in it but possibly some tidbits of information that might not be widely known. Or maybe not, I'm planning on adding some deep stuff later on in the story that Jordan never actually publishes but hints at.**

The third day came, and with it, Elayne and Nynaeve's departure for Ebou Dar. Mat had asked me to come along, I told him if he hadn't I would have come anyway and we laughed at that over a mug of ale I didn't end up drinking after the first sip. I really didn't like drinking, it just seemed so natural to have a mug with Mat that I did it without thinking. Thom Merrilin and Juilin Sandar had met me on the second day and Thom was wary of me from the start. He asked to play me at stones after introductions, and once I figured out how to play, I beat him every time. That was an incredible accomplishment I knew, Thom Merrilin was very good at stones but I saw his tactics and feints as if he were telling me in advance. He was very wary of me after that.

As soon as the gateway closed behind us, I let the illusion fall away and I felt better for letting my ears show. Hiding them had bothered me, I knew why I needed to do it but I didn't like hiding who I was even if it was for the best. Adeleas slowed her horse to ride beside me almost immediately after I let the illusion drop. Vandene drew her horse back and I was sandwiched between the two elderly Aes Sedai.

"Your ears," Vandene began, and I embraced Saidar.

"That's how, Aes Sedai." Both she, Adeleas, and everyone else that could channel were so suprised that we rode in silence for a long while. I felt incredibly smug, and I half expected Nynaeve to smack me over the head for being to big-headed but she never did. We went most of the day in silence, Vandene and Adeleas clumped together and staring at me over their shoulders every now and then. Jaem had been there when I was defeating other Warders with ease and always seemed to place himself between the two sisters and myself. Birgitte had been just as suprised, after Elayne told her what had the older Aes Sedai in a tizzy, so apparently they hadn't told her about me. That was a suprise, but then maybe it wasn't.

One of the few good things that came of revealing that I could channel Saidar, was that neither Vandene or Adeleas seemed to want to talk to me. They probably would eventually, but the shock of a man channeling Saidar was probably too great right now. Nynaeve had been ignoring me as best she could which I thought was funny, and Aviendha came and walked beside me for about an hour before we stopped.

I got down to walk with her when she stopped beside me and waited for her to start, "Elayne," Aviendha's red hair hid her face for a moment before she turned to face me directly, "my near-sister told me you said Rand al'Thor loves me?" She said it as a question, but there was enough heat in her eyes that I chose my words carefully.

"If you don't know that already," I shook my head, it was painfully obvious how they felt for each other even if I hadn't known it already. "I know one future that may come to pass, it is the most likely but that doesn't make it cemented in stone. I told you that already, but maybe," I waited for her to say something but she didn't. "I know alot of things that happen, including what happened between you and Rand." She blushed furiously and her hand went to her belt-knife but it dropped away, "I also know that you tried your best not to break your promise to watch him for Elayne, and I know that what happened between you was when Rand began to realize he was falling in love with you. I think he knew he felt something for you when you started sleeping in the same room as him." Her green eyes were locked on my face, I was having a hard time keeping my concentration so I didn't sweat. How to continue?

"You knew, and didn't say anything." It was a statement, not a question, and not inviting a response of any kind. "For a man, you are considerably more intelligent than I had expected." I laughed at that, I imagined it would be something an Aiel would laugh about and I was right. Aviendha grinned.

"I hope it works out between the three of you," Aveindha's grin dissapeared in a flash when I mentioned Min. "I really hope it does, Rand is going to need you three." I remounted without looking at her, watching ahead of me and she led her horse back up beside Elayne.

Mat thanked me for the third time that night while we ate, I suggested that he buy some food for a few days travel on our second day in Salidar and because he knew I was privy to things that hadn't happened yet he bought enough food for about six days travel. One more days supplies that I believed it would take, but I hadn't told him how many days. Pork, some kind of egg that Mat shared with me, and a few slightly shriveled apples roasted on the fire made a fine meal. The women sat across the invisible line and enjoyed their lamb, but Elayne shot me dark looks from time to time. She had started gloating that Mat didn't have food for travel, (Mat had hidden it when I told him they wouldn't have told him they would take several days) and when Mat had Lopin and Nerim get out the food she knew I had told him. Mat thought it was incredibly funny, I did too but I didn't laugh or even try to look innocent.

Elayne asked Mat to speak with her, and by the time they had come back I was well on my way to falling asleep. Egwene had asked me if I could enter Tel'aran'rhiod and after I told her I could she asked me to meet her. When I refused, as I did with most of the requests she made of me, she got pouty on me!

Juilin and one of Mat's Red Arms were in a heated discussion about something, the Red Arm must have been Tairen because they were arguing about a point of law Rand had changed. Juilin would want to know about those sort of things, he was a thief catcher after all. He needed to know the law so he could enforce it while bringing criminals to justice. They argued or talked, depending on the subject, for most of the rest of the day. Mat tried to talk to Juilin a few times, but was rebuffed. Thom proved better conversation for Mat though, he rode beside Thom for a while before Elayne called Thom up to talk about something just to spite Mat.

"Mat has a ter'angreal," Elayne had been warming me up for this for this since the beginning of the third day, her efforts to convince him to let her study his medallion had failed the first night, the next day, and that night. Now she was trying to make me get it from him. "I am sure you are aware of it," she had a slight British accent to her voice, I could imitate most accents but hardly any here.

"Why do you need my help?" I asked when she finally managed to ask while coating the whole question in so much honey I was looking around trying to find the bees. "You're doing so well on your own." Her chin raised up and her entire mannor became that of a woman looking down on someone. Looking levely at her, I wasn't impressed at all by her snobby behaviour, I waited until she realized that being queenly wasn't going to work.

"It's the property of the Tower!" This argument was weak, she may not know it but it was.

"The Tower claims, claims mind, that it should posess all ter'angreal. The White Tower can claim all it wants, when Egwene presents the deeds to each and every item of the Power I'll be more than happy to give any I find over. But even if she waggles the deed to that particular ter'angreal under my nose, I won't help you take Mat's away. Bloody Aes Sedai think that they can do whatever they want just because they feel like it," the last was mumbled but Elayne heard me. "He payed for that ter'angeral Elayne, he payed dearly." She didn't ask me again, and I noticed that all the attempts to study the ter'angreal were done by Vandene and Adeleas now. Nynaeve and Elayne left him alone.

"What did Siuan want with you?" Nynaeve was riding beside me on the fourth day, I wondered why she hadn't asked before. After promising to do what I could, Leana and Siuan met me the third day in Salidar, before we left, in the woods far enough away that no one would be able to feel me channel, not even Aran'gar. What I did was simple in it's way but beyond what any Aes Sedai would have been able to do. I found the connection to Saidar within the women, and made the connection wider. It allowed for more Saidar to be taken in safely but I couldn't get the connection wider than it was before they were stilled. Rather than just have them come upon their former strength right then, I put a dissolving block on the connection that would fade with time, allowing them to draw more of the Power just as if they had only started their training. When I explained what I had done they agreed completely, it would seem as if they had only required time to recover to their full strength. Leana had kissed me quite aggressively after Siuan left, and asked if I would consider becoming her Warder. I was breathless after the kiss, Domani women really were all the stories said, but told her no. She hadn't expected me to say yes, but said she had to ask anyway. Walking back to the town I wondered if I should feel guilty for enjoying being kissed so much, I felt bonded to Moiraine even if she was gone.

Elayne heeled her mare, Lioness, beside mine and opposite Nynaeve after I had explained what I had done, "Taylor would you mind speaking with me privately?" I nodded. She slowed us down so that we trailed the party so that we wouldn't be overheard, "Birgitte says that you have been staring at her quite a lot while we've been riding, I want to know why."

Did I dare tell her I knew that Birgitte was the hero from legends? That I knew she was ripped from Tel'aran'rhiod by Moghedien and that I knew Nynaeve had captured the Forsaken later? "You have to ask?" Nodding, perhaps partly to herself, Elayne went back to ride with Birgitte so she could tell her. Birgitte avoided me after that, the more people that knew about her the better chance her secret had of coming out.

Ebou Dar came into sight on the fifth day, and I was busy talking to myself in the Old Tounge. Only Mat or Birgitte could have understood me completely, Vandene or Adeleas might have caught some of what I said if they had been close enough but direct translation was difficult and I was muttering quickly and not completeing my words. I wasn't aware I was muttering, I had talked to myself or out loud unconsciously before coming to this world, I was just worried about the Gholam that would appear when they found the Bowl of the Winds.

"You're muttering to yourself again," Mat said, and I forgot what I was worrying about. I looked over at him and wondered if he had followed what I was saying. He didn't look alarmed and I was greatful for that.

Ebou Dar was all white, gleaming buildings seemed to reflect the sun at our little party and I was glad I could go on ignoring the heat like the Aes Sedai were doing. After we got through the gates, people bustled about like a beehive in full production. Southern industry was incredible, mostly because they had to make up for all the celebrations and parties they threw, and they kept up with any other nation or exceeded it based on how many had happened in the past few weeks. Getting around in times such as these was a long arduos task, but I was getting used to it, and we eventually enter Mol Hara Square. The Tarisan's Palace was on the far side, and I saw the Wandering Woman directly across from the Palace.

"Taylor," Nynaeve said briskly, she never did like speaking to me directly unless she had Elayne or Birgitte with her, "would you join us in the Tarsain Palace? I'm sure Queen Tylin would find you rooms if you came with Aes Sedai." It was the most courteous thing she had ever asked me, and I was slightly stunned.

"I would be honored Nynave," she blushed and I wanted to smirk but held it back. She had been slowly warming up to me over the trip and I didn't want to put her back up because I was too pretty for my own good. Mat, Olver and the rest of the men he had brought with him went of to the inn, and I followed the women, and Thom and Juilin to the Palace. Recognizably Aes Sedai, Vandene and Adeleas were greeted immediately and were shown to rooms in good order. Nynaeve, Elayne, Aviendha and Birgitte were shown rooms next and I could almost see the smoke rising from Nynaeve's smouldering face. I was led behind the women, and would be in the same area as them but a room down. The serving woman led me to a small sitting room with a bedroom for one beside the rooms the women were staying in. I hadn't seen Vandene or Adeleas when we were led down here so they must be in a different part of the Palace. The serving woman who escorted me to my room giggled furiously when I thanked her and blushed scarlet when she was in mid giggle before hurrying away, darting looks at me over her shoulder as she went.

When I set my saddlebags down, the servants had tried but I shooed them away, I tried to remember what was happening elsewhere. Rand had met with the Aes Sedai from Salidar and tomorrow he would flee to Cairhien after their number grew to thirteen. Ten days after that he would be abducted by the Tower Aes Sedai, and about seven days after that Perrin would begin the hunt for Rand that would lead to Dumai's Wells. If everything went well, my being here would keep events going much the same as they should and nothing too interesting happened in Ebou Dar except that in a month's time Mat would become the pet of Queen Tylin.

The women went about Ebou Dar searching for the Bowl of the Winds for the next seventeen days, seventeen days that I had to suffer the grins and blushes serving women sent my way and far too long a time that I had to avoid Aes Sedai. Joline and Teslyn seemed to pop up wherever I went in the palace, I didn't know if Vandene or Adeleas had told them I could channel Saidar but they did seem interested in me. Seventeen days, Berelain would have found Rand's sword and the hunt would be on. If I went back now, would I help or hinder? I stewed on that for a few days before rejecting it. Ten days after Perrin left Cairhien he would catch up to the Tower Aes Sedai and rescue Rand from them and the Aiel. If I went on the ninth? I decided to go on the eighth in case I couldn't find them within the first day.

Searching the Rahad had gotten boring the second time I went with Nynaeve and Aviendha, I didn't know where the stash of ter'angreal was and I certainly wasn't planning on finding it for them before they were supposed to. Birgitte had come to speak with me on the fourth day in the palace, and I explained everything except that I knew all this from reading a book. It satisfied her, I told her I didn't expect her to climb a glass mountain and slay a giant and she laughed nervously. That was what she had told Elayne most people would expect of her, if I knew what they had spoken of even before I had come to Salidar what else did I know?

Time dragged by, I was growing more agitated by the hour but tried to be civil with everyone who I spoke to. With one day to go before I decided I would find Perrin, I was ready to scratch my eyes out in frustration. Rand was hurting because I couldn't do anything that would make things happen faster, Min was suffering becacuse I couldn't change things, it wasn't my fault the Aes Sedai were hurting them but I could stop it if I was willing to change how things happened. Blood and ashes seemed a weak curse for what I wanted to express, I dropped the 'F' bomb several times behind a ward when I felt like ranting and raving.

* * *

So I'm leaving this at a cliff hanger for a reason, the next chapter is going to be long and if I cut it in half it would make me mad if I was reading it so I won't. UPDATE immediately following this one, so no worries :-P 


	11. Chapter 11 : Dumai's Wells

**A/N: Okay so maybe not a super long chapter but it took me forever to write it so it is a long (time wise) chapter...**

"I have to go to Perrin, he will need me but I'll be back." I wrote that in a note, there would be too many questions if I had told anyone. I left less than an hour later, it was finally the day to leave and I could barely restrain myself.

It took a day and a half to find them, Traveling is all well and good if you know where you are going but I had no idea. Hopping from one area to the next, sometimes running when I found evidence of tracks, I followed until I found them. When I did, I saw the Aiel scouts shortly after I saw the marching group of mismatched soldiers and cavalry, I opened a gateway close enough to be seen easily but far enough away that I had to walk a few minutes to get to them. Aiel Wise Ones were at the forefront of the group led out to meet me, along with the nine Aes Sedai that met Perrin while he followed Rand's captors. Perrin was riding a big stallion, it had to be him with the short beard and a war axe in a loop on his side. That, and he was almost twice as broad across the shoulders as most men and had arms the size of most men's legs.

Wating calmly the whole time they advanced from the stopped army, I waited for them to get to me. Sixty odd Wise Ones, nine Aes Sedai, Perrin, and an officer of some rank along with an honour guard came to meet me. I saw Aiel moving around our position and was pleased to see several of the Maidens trying to be stealthy looked shocked when I stared right at them.

An excited murmur arose when Amys recognized me and let the others know who I was, but that didn't stop the Wise Ones or the Aes Sedai from looking as though they wanted to gentle me and slit my throat right then. Verin and Alanna had both paled when they recognized me, but neither said anything. Perrin took the lead again after the brief conference, and when he stopped his horse about ten paces from where I stood he made an impressive sight. Amber yellow eyes, even when I expected them, came as a bit of a shock but I didn't let it show. He got enough of that from everyone else.

I bowed to the party, not deeply but enough to show some respect, "Perrin Aybara, my name is Taylor."

He looked me over, very obviously, and looked to Amys before answering, "You know my name, and you can channel. Are you an Asha'man?" Several of the Aes Sedai bristled at the name. "Amys knows you, or so she says."

"I am not Asha'man. I can channel, and I want to help you rescue Rand. I was with Mat a little while ago, I jump around and help out when I can."

Alanna stiffened when I mentioned Mat's name, and the Aes Sedai huddled around her. Amys walked up to me, placing herself directly in front of my face. Her near white hair was in sharp contrast to her youthful face, "Moiraine Sedai trusted you, but I do not." Sorelia came up to stand beside Amys, she must have been Sorelia because she looked as though she expected cattle to fall over dead when she looked at them. I wasn't sure they wouldn't.

"I understand Wise One," I turned my attention back to Perrin, "Neither of us want Rand to fall into Eliada's hands, especially when she is willing to kidnap him to get him." My gaze swept over the Aes Sedai and the Wise Ones, pausing on Amys who still stared from directly in front of me. She had seen me in Tel'aran'rhiod and later in the Sun Palace and knew I could enter the World of Dreams without ter'angreal.

"If you want to help Rand, then you can come along. Just know that there are one hundred and thirteen women who can shield you should you decide to change your mind." He turned his horse around and was trotting back to the army before the Aes Sedai could so much as open their mouths. Perrin hadn't stared at my ears like the others had, the reactions to his eyes was reminder enough that strange things happen and he didn't want to make people uncomfortable because they were different. At least that's why I figured he didn't stare. It might have been that he was too distracted by all that was going on. The Aes Sedai and Wise Ones were another matter. Talking to each other quietly, they kept themselves between me and the camp. Their eyes followed me the whole way, even when they turned to follow, and the sister's Warders kept as close an eye on me as it was possible for them to do.

"Perrin?" The blacksmith was standing to the side of the rapidly assembling camp.

"Yes Taylor?"

How to do this without making him worry? "Your eyes, I don't want to be intrusive but," he waited for me to go on, "I know what they mean." Perrin grunted as if hit.

"You know what they mean?" His voice was low and gruff, he was on the defence but wasn't defending yet.

"Wolves, Perrin. You are a wolf-brother," he turned to face me then, he had been staring into the distance away from the Two River's camp and in the dusk his eyes glowed burnished gold. "I know about your eyes, your ears, your nose. I know you can speak with wolves."

"You know a lot, Amys told me you were practically closeted with Moiraine sometimes when she wasn't talking with Rand. You can channel but you aren't an Asha'man, you want to help rescue Rand but you don't say how. What am I supposed to think about you?"

"You can trust me to help Rand, I don't promise that things will go well but they will go better with me."

He grunted again, and I turned to leave. "Taylor, if you know about the wolves and what I can do, you know I can smell your emotions," I nodded without turning back, "all I've smelled from you is calm, nothing else. Your scent never changes, I asked the wolves about you and they haven't spoken to me since. I got the impression that they were stunned, who are you?"

"I'm human, I think. Sleep well Perrin Aybara." As if he could sleep well after I said something like that.

Neither could I, the question of what I was plagued me for more than an hour before I got restless enough to go for a short walk outside of the camp. The Aiel standing sentry were more than surprised when I waved to them, but I wasn't making any attempt at stealth so they didn't stop me. There was a small outcrop of rocks a few hundred paces outside of the camp, far enough away that I could mutter to myself alone without anyone hearing. Muttering eased tension, at least it did for me, and I mutterd about everything from Min to Birgitte.

It was because I was muttering to myself that I didn't hear or notice the Aes Sedai until they had surrounded me. The shield that blocked me from the Power was there before I saw the glow of Saidar around the women, it startled me terribly, but I wasn't frightened. I was more angry with myself for being snuck up on than scared, I could break the shield the conventional way or my own way if I wanted. The two directly infront of me must have been in charge, Bera and Kiruna I thought, but figuring out which was which in this light would have been impossible and I couldn't remember which one had the face of a farm wife. I thought it was Bera, but I might be wrong.

"You can channel," the woman on the left said, "but you are not Asha'man. Who do you serve if not the Dragon Reborn? The Forsaken? The Wise One Amys told Perrin you had helped Rand before, we will know who you are now."

Regarding them as cooly as they did me, I was completely unconcerned by their aparent upper-hand. "My name is Taylor, I can channel, I am here to help the Dragon Reborn stay out of the clutches of Aes Sedai. Oops, I meant to say Elaida." I saw the flow form before it struck me across the back, a whip of Air made as a switch. "I suggest you don't do that again, you have no idea what you are dealing with here." They were linked, nine Aes Sedai of their strength linked would have been able to handle any man. Except me, and I might not be human.

The switch struck again, this time harder and thinner, "You are in no position to make demands, you will answer our questions immediately."

"Which of you is Demira? I have a question for her before I answer any of yours." My lack of respect may have been part of the reaction, but Demira stepped forwards without a moments hesitation.

"I am Demira Eriff," she seemed startled that she had responded.

"You were attacked by Aiel in Caemlyn correct?" The stunned silence was enough of an answer, "The man who whispered after you were pierced by spears in no vital areas, I think it was 'Tell the other witches to stay away from the Dragon Reborn', he had black eyes?" The shield became stronger, I knew what only they and the assasin could know, "How many Aiel have you seen that had black eyes? How many Aiel have you spoken to that refered to Aes Sedai as witches? How many Aielmen are short?" I fired off the questions at a rapid pace, trying to keep them interested while I led them towards the truth (at least I thought it was the truth). "Rand al'Thor did not know why you came to him and demanded the respect Aes Sedai deserved. I would have thought Aes Sedai would have noticed that, and now I will be going." Flexing against the shield, I was pleased to see several faces, even in the darkness, have expressions of shock and horror as I broke the barrier between myself and the Power.

**Dumai's Wells**

The sun was halfway to it's peak when Perrin received the sending, and after a few miles more the scouts brought news of the Shaido. Perrin barked orders, organizing a plan of attack that had everyone ready to rescue Rand as soon as news of what was going to happen reached the last ears.

"What will you do?" He asked me when I walked into the circle of men and women he was giving orders to.

"I will attack with the Power, I have sworn no oaths to limit my usefulness," the Aes Sedai glowered at me, they were still wary of me after last night, "and I feel no hesitation about attacking Shaido Wise Ones," the Wise Ones glowered at me. "My strength in the Power is not something to be taken lightly, I will be fine on my own. If I see a way to assist you I will."

"You speak as if you could defeat the Shaido on your own wetlander," one of the Wise Ones said.

"If I caught the Wise Ones by surprise, yes." Shock and disbelief covered every face in the circle.

"We've wasted enough time," Perrin barked. "Do what you can Taylor, we are here to rescue Rand not bicker about who's stronger."

It was sound advice, I felt a tug at my mind to go along with whatever the blacksmith said, ta'veren. The Two River's men needed to be within three hundred paces of a target to hit accuratly but could probably shoot from four or five hundred, Perrin's small army advanced. Eight, seven, six hundred paces, I selected my targets. There were so many Wise Ones using so much of Saidar it was difficult to pick out individual weaves. I embraced Saidin, then Saidar. Five, four, Dobraine sounded the charge and the attack began. Weaving Saidar and Saidin together in a simple weave, a wire thin strip of Air flew out ahead of the horsemen and cut a line of Shaido two hundred paces long through the middle. Ten rows were cut in half at the waist before they knew they were dead. A sizeable gouge in the ranks for the horsemen to charge into, but the Wise Ones were going to be the problem. Over two hundred Shaido Wise Ones were attacking the shield set up by the Aes Sedai in the copse of trees in the pit of the valley, I needed to attack them directly and quickly before they realized what was happening. Opening myself to both sides of the Power as much as possible, I was flooded with a sense of completeness.

The Wise Ones and Aes Sedai had gone off in a different direction, protected by the Two River's bowmen, and would attack soon enough. As if to mock my estimation, fireballs the size of horses flew from the Wise Ones into the amassed Shaido warriors, and lightning struck from a cloudless sky. Weaving Saidin and Saidar together to form weaves, ten fireballs flew towards the middle of the Shaido pressing towards the Tower Aes Sedai. The fireballs spit out and hurled more fireballs as they flew, dropping liquid hot fire onto the defenceless warriors. Screams came shortly after but I couldn't listen to them, defending myself from attacks by Shaido Wise Ones was as much a problem as attacking now. Hurling fire and lightning, tearing apart weaves and blocking others, I watched as the Aiel that had come with Perrin attacked the Shaido with a ferocity that rivaled a cornered badger.

Fireballs and lightning was all well and good, but I knew more devastating weaves and used them. Hundreds of darts of Fire tore through hundreds of Shaido, punching holes through bucklers and anything else as if it wasn't there at all. Whole groups of massed Aiel were frozen solid when I pulled the heat from them with Fire and Water. The red arm bands that marked Rand's Aiel saved them from the fate that the Shaido were suffering, if not always death. What Lews Therin called Blossom of Fire was particularly devistating, a ring of fire that incinerated hundreds of Shaido in an instant and any that were pressed into it, and several other weaves tore apart the compacted Aiel. Wise Ones of the Shaido were only barely able to keep most of my attacks from detonating among them. Of thirty bolts of lightning I hurled at them, seven or eight landed. Almost all of my fireballs were diverted or exploded prematurely. Whip cracks of Air had Shaido falling apart at the middle, fountains of water exploding from underneath the Aiel threw them off their feet to be trampled by others, ground exploding in fire and dirt tore hundreds apart, and most of what was going on wasn't even my doing. The Aiel Wise Ones and the Aes Sedai couldn't copy my weaves, they would have had to see both Saidin and Saidar to do it and be able to make them work in unison, but making the ground explode wasn't that hard to copy, and cutting the Shaido down with blades of air was hardly difficult.

A hollow boom sounded from within the camp, Rand had escaped. I opened a gateway and I jumped out, weaving a shield of Air, Earth, and Fire, ready to burn anything within sight that wasn't friendly. The remains of a broken chest were beside me, I looked around quickly and breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't cut anyone. Rand was kneeling over Min, talking softly to her.

"Rand," my voice wasn't loud but he turned so quickly and with a snarl on his face I threw up another barrier to block whatever it was he was going to do. His face softened when he recognized me, then hardened again. He knew I was aware of what had happened, knew that I could have stopped this. "It had to be this way, I don't know what would have happened otherwise but this had to happen!" Min looked confused, then almost fell over backwards when she looked around me.

"It doesn't matter, help me with the Aes Sedai," he started to push up but I stopped him, then put his arm around my shoulder to help him stand.

"If I help, we're going to link. I control the flows, and I will release you when we're done." He nodded, and I reached out to him. I had linked with him before but it was a painful process, this time he slid in seamlessly. Saidin roared in me, the Taint put away by whatever buffered me from it. Rand was protected as well now, and he stared at me in wonder as he had the only other time we had linked.

"It's pure, clean," the awe in his voice was almost startling. "I know what I have to do to cleanse Saidin."

"Not yet, things have to happen. I might be able to help you do it sooner than from what I know but certain things have to happen." He nodded again, I was going to have to be near him for a while, or steal the access keys.

The Aes Sedai didn't notice us until it was too late, I had stopped Rand from attacking them right off so the Asha'man that had appeared after I had Traveled to the copse were close to the ring now. Air clipped seven at once, then more. Falling from their horses, the Aes Sedai didn't even consider an enemy from within, which made this a lot easier. Four sisters were already unconscious or dead, so in short order just under a dozen Aes Sedai were knocked out and the Asha'man had erected the shield around the trees. Gawyin had gotten away with the others, and Galina should be captured by Shaido. Taim swaggered up, and I dropped the link before it could be felt by others. Rand was staring at the unconscious Aes Sedai, and I looked out at the battle. There were still packs of red banded Aiel, groups of horsemen, and infantry out there.

Whispering quick instructions to Rand, I ran as fast as I could at the barrier. Several Asha'man turned to lash out at me but I ran between them and hurled myself at the shield. A quick slash opened a whole in it and a fireball cleared the area I landed in. Making steps of Air, I ran up so that I could see the groups allied to Rand. Weaving quickly, I covered each group with a dome of the Power that cut them off from the slaughter that was about to occur. Moving quickly around the barrier the Asha'man had put up I had almost all the groups covered before the shield rose and death began. With an explosion, the first rank of Shaido Aiel were destroyed, then a second, and a third. I had one last group to shield! Throwing the weave at them it materialized just as the rank they were in exploded, my shield held and they were safe. Sagging slightly, I didn't notice the weave from the Asha'man's attack reach for me until it was almost too late. Leaping from the platform I had created of Air, there wasn't enough time for anything else, I wove quickly and flattened a group of now fleeing Shaido and landed hard on them. I expected the breath to be knocked from my lungs but I felt as though I had just fallen backwards off a stool rather than nearly thirty feet. Resistant to damage as well? I wasn't able to follow the weave to the Asha'man who had tried to kill me but I had a few names I was sure were Darkfriends.

The rolling ring of Earth and Fire came next, and the full out retreat of the Shaido became obvious. Three more erupted in an ever growing ring from the Asha'man and I heard Rand yelling at Taim to stop it. Only a barrier I had woven at the last second saved me from destruction, only the question of who had tried to kill me kept my mind from going into a kind of shock from the massacre around me.

All around me was death, and as the question of who tried to kill me became less and less important, the scene around me became more and more powerful. Emptying all the food I had in me as I saw bodies ripped and torn apart falling around me, I dry heaved for a while longer before the revulsion of what lay all around me didn't make me want to throw up so badly anymore. The urge to empty myself never left the entire time I was there.

"Asha'man, rest!" Taim's voice boomed across the silence, it hadn't been Power enhanced, but the utter silence that followed was enough for even a cough to seem like an explosion.

Words washed over me, I didn't hear them. I was staring into the eyes of a Shaido Maiden, I hoped she was Shaido, her body was somewhere else and the bloody stump of her neck was a torn mass of flesh and blood. Tears streamed down my cheeks, I had done this, killed hundreds maybe thousands of people. I had destroyed lives, hopes, dreams, for what? A group of women so used to controlling how the world moved that they felt justified in whatever they did. Women who believed the ends justified whatever means were used to achieve it.

The nine Aes Sedai were swearing fealty to Rand now, under the Light and all that jazz. The Maiden looked, content, as if she knew she was going to die and was ready for death. All Aiel claimed that they did not fear death, that all must wake from the dream, but I thought they were much more agreeable to death by spear, rather than by the Power. Red hair fell down the tanned face, the black veil had been ripped away exposing a girl no older than seventeen. I wept for her, for all those who had died, and when a hand touched my shoulder I found I was cradling the woman's head in my hands, stroking her hair tenderly.

It was Amys, "We must all wake from the dream, she knew it as well as any."

Not answering, I sobbed into the Maiden's hair.

The naked Shaido gai'shain bothered most of the Two River's men, they bothered some of the Cairhienin men as well but more Two River's men had fled the wagons to escape the pestering of the Maiden's through gai'shain. Four were sent to ask if I wanted water, I stared stonily at the sea of black that marked the carrion eaters gorging themselves on the dead. Two seemed ready to do more, apparently the Maidens had seen what I did to the Shaido and were impressed and had told the gai'shain to attend to my needs. Needs being a shifty way of saying that the naked women tried to lead me off somewhere private. I didn't budge from where I sat, which irritated the Maidens to no end. I heard several talking nearby, on purpose, saying that I must have a weak stomach for death and that no Maiden would ever consider such a weak man for a lover and certainly not a possible husband. That they mentioned marriage was surprising though, few Maidens would admit they would like to marry. I said nothing to that either, it was true though. Staring at the sea of death, I knew I would have to force myself to see what I had done was necessary because it didn't seem so now.

A rock struck me in the back of the head, a small rock but with enough force behind it that a sling had to have been used. I ignored it until a second rock was flung at me, embracing Saidar I held it fast in a weave of Air, then sent it hurtling back the way it had come. Someone dove out of the way, and I almost felt like smiling in satisfaction. The sea of the dead stifled my momentary good humour.

"Has he never seen a battle before?" This from another Maiden.

"He fought the Shaido with the Car'a'carn at the tree killer's city but I don't think he was this close to it," another Maiden said.

"Why does he sulk so? With a pretty face like that I'm surprised no one has offered him a bridal wreath, I know you considered giving up the spear for him Junilla. A man who will not go mad from channelling, who can channel like the Wise Ones, I have considered it." I didn't think she had meant to say so much.

Shocked silence filled several minutes before I heard soft footsteps retreating from where I sat, staring at the sea of death. Rand walked among the corpses, memorizing the faces of the women who had died because of him, for him. He had taken the head of the Maiden from me, had moved me here with flows of Air when I didn't move from among the dead. The shock of it all was slowly leaving me, the utter carnage had made me feel distant from my own body for a time but the face of the Maiden had broken the gates that held my emotions in check.

"It helps if you look away," Perrin's voice was behind me and to the left, the direction of the wagons.

"I can't, not yet." How could I explain what I was going through, I was staring at the destruction of something I had made. Destruction I had played a part in, destruction of my own creation.

"You have to let go, it's the only way to move on. You can't hold on to what is already gone or you'll go mad."

He was right, when Perrin thought things through he was almost always right. I stood, turning away from the sea of dead and collapsed. I had never known weakness like this since my first night in this world. It was foreign to me, and when the wind left my lungs as I hit the ground I felt relived that I could still do that, I could still have the wind knocked out of me.

Big hands and massive arms wrapped around me, lifting me, and it felt an eternity before I was laid down on the ground somewhere in the shade. "I can still see the dead, they shout to me, ask me why I didn't save them. I could have stopped all this, I could have stopped the Aes Sedai from taking Rand. Could have stopped them from beating him, from hurting Min. I could have." Sleep closed over me.

* * *

Perrin looked down at the man, Taylor, and wondered if he was still sane. He could channel Saidin, several of the Asha'man commented on him when they had passed by. He could channel Saidar too, from what he heard from the Wise Ones and Aes Sedai. Perrin knew he didn't know much about the Power, but he did know that a man could only channel Saidin and a woman could only channel Saidar. Not the other way around, and certainly not together at once. Rand had said that the man was shielded somehow from the Taint on Saidin, he had said that very quietly and away from everyone else because if the Asha'man knew about him they might kill him to get his secret.

Rand was down there with Min, he was coming back now, but he had taken Min among the dead. The 'sea of dead' as Taylor called it and rightly so. Rubbing the back of his neck, he tried to think of how he was going to ask Rand about the Aes Sedai. He never liked rushing into things and if things went badly Rand might do something he would regret later. About to step towards Rand, Taylor stirred and opened his eyes. The man's scent never changed, always calm no matter what he was doing. Even when he had been sobbing into the severed head of a Maiden he had smelled calm, and Perrin did not like it at all.

* * *

Perrin was standing beside me, he didn't like my scent at all from the way he bristled when I opened my eyes. Always calm was I? Maybe my scent. "Perrin, I need to speak with Taim, will you help me up?" He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet, I didn't go into spasms. "Thank you."

A Darkfriend in Demandred's camp, I needed to kill Taim before things got out of control but what would I change by killing him? He looked smug now, looking at the Aes Sedai, if his expression could be called anything. The second I had laid eyes on him I had disliked him but what was I going to do about him? Logain couldn't be tied to the Black Tower or he wouldn't be able to help Rand when he needed it, the three Asha'man who could be trusted were going to be bonded Warders to the Aes Sedai with Cadsuane, and I wasn't sure if there were any other Asha'man who could be trusted enough to do it.

"Let the Lord of Chaos rule." I said it quietly beside Taim and he nearly jerked out of his skin. Rand had just handed the Aes Sedai over to the Wise Ones and while Taim wasn't completely pleased he had been smug about how the women were going to be treated as apprentices to the Aiel.

"How do you know that?" His whispered voice made it a demand, not a request.

I walked away from him, so he was a Darkfriend already? Rand had chosen Dashiva, Osan'gar, for an Asha'man guard already, the Dedicated and Soldiers were already holding Saidin. Taim strode away with the rest of the Asha'man and made gateways out of the valley. He spared an uneasy glance at me over his shoulder just before going back to the Black Tower though, he would report to Demandred or would report his findings to the other Chosen.

"Can you make a gateway, Dashiva?" Rand asked the Asha'man. Osan'gar in disguise, and before that, Aginor. Aginor had hurt Moiraine, my blood boiled thinking about that.

"Of course." Dashiva, Osan'gar, began dry-washing his hands, flicking at his lips with the tip of his tongue. Osan'gar dry washed his hands in the meeting with Demandred and did the tongue thing too. Add to the fact that he could speak the Old Tongue as fluently as Mat and he picked up on things faster than any other it was really quite obvious. "That is to say, the M'Hael teaches Traveling as soon as a student shows himself strong enough."

"The M'Hael?" Rand said, blinking.

"The Lord Mazrim Taim's title, my Lord Dragon. It means 'leader.' In the Old Tongue." The fellow's smile managed to be nervous and patronizing at the same time. "I read a great deal on the farm. Every book the peddlers brought by."

"The M'Hael," Rand muttered disapprovingly. "Well, be that as it may. Make me a gateway to near Cairhien, Dashiva. It's time to see what the world has been up to while I was away, and what I have to do about it."

Musing to myself, that conversation went exactly as it had in The Lord of Chaos, I wondered if I could change events. Not that I wanted to try, Lanfear and Ishamael would be reincarnated soon enough if they hadn't been already. She was certainly dead after I left her with the Eelfinn, I wondered which of the lucky monstrosities got to wear her skin.

"Are you coming Taylor?" Rand's question brought me out of deep thought, "I would like to speak with you about certain things, and Min needs to talk with you too."

"I'm coming, but I can't stay more than two weeks. I'll be needed elsewhere."

The Wise Ones were staring at me as if I were mad, Min was looking all around me with a mixture of shock, awe, and fear. Dashiva had his head in the clouds, but his unfocused gaze was on me, and Rand nodded. "Well," he gestured towards the gateway.

**A/N: Taylor's breakdown was something I wasn't planning on, but I was thinking about it and then figured that I would be totally crazed if I had done stuff like that too and ended up right in the middle of a blood soaked battlefield. My purpose for the breakdown wasn't so much for you, the reader, but for me, because I wanted him to crack for a bit. I'm a little sadistic in my own way, usually expressed in my more violent stories that will never be published anywhere. It's how I vent my frustration.  
**


	12. Chapter 12 : Royalty Just Don't Last

**A/N: I hate Perrin. Not really, but I think some part of me does, and that part of me infected the rest and now I don't like him. He's such a baby, absolutely terrified for Faile so that it's all he can think about. It's painful for me to read from his point of view whenever Faile is in danger. Maybe it's because I'm a guy. Girls, do you like his devotion? Us guys will continue to think it's disgusting until we worry about our own wives. Answer in your reviews, I read every one. :)**

"Faile is safe, Perrin," the blacksmith had been a wreak since learning that Colavaere had taken the Sun Throne and I had said the same thing seven times since. "She is one of Colavaere's attendants, and has been busy trying to incriminate her in the deaths of the nobles just before you left." He didn't relax at all, but some of the tension in his eyes left and I nodded to myself. Making him relax had been frustrating, and I wondered how Faile put up with him.

"And what should I do Taylor?" Rand asked, "You know what I do in your version of the future, if I do different what will happen?"

"If you do anything because I tell you to it is bound to make you want to know exactly what you should do from here on out. I'm not going to be waiting on you hand and foot to tell you what you should do, if I change things I just have to live with it!" The Aes Sedai looked shocked that I was speaking to him that way, well they were shocked at the expression I had on my face behind the warding against eavesdroppers. Min had avoided me the entire ride back to Cairhien, but stared at me whenever I wasn't looking in her direction. Apparently the images floating around me were either bad, or troublesome.

Rand smiled, his smiles never reached his eyes now, and dropped the ward of Saidin. He rode back to Min and before he warded their conversation I saw her say something to him and then point at something all around me. Something troublesome indeed.

The procession into the Palace was followed by stares, Aiel's considering ones, and the commoners outright gawking ones. Colavaere had said the Dragon Reborn had gone away for a time, and from what I remembered she had said that he would not be coming back any time soon. Trailing behind the group going with Rand, walking behind the Maidens, I stared at the city. Everything was designed so that no nature was left in it, roads went through hills instead of around or over, buildings were angular and dark colored. Ebou Dar was probably the exact opposite of Cairhien, all white with domes and curves everywhere. The Sun Palace was massive, but the still unfinished Topless Towers of Cairhein would overshadow the Palace when they were completed.

One of the Far Dareis Mai fell in beside me and I decided to ask a question that had bothered me for a while, "Why do you call the Cairhienen treekillers? It was Laman that cut down Avendoraldera and the Aiel turned back after Laman was dead. The nation of Cairhien didn't cut it down, so why?"

"They are treekillers," and that was all she was going to say on that. The Maiden was dangerously close to being as tall as me, there were a few that were as tall or taller than me but that didn't bother me much. With her hair cut short except for the tail that the Maidens kept, a pale reddish gold color, it exposed her pretty face. We walked in silence for a while, it was a long way from the gate to the Palace. "I asked Perrin Aybarra, but he told me to ask you." I looked at her but she wasn't looking at me, her cheeks were faintly colored. "I did not want to shame you but, why did you cry for the Maiden?"

All of the Maidens close enough to overhear weren't speaking anymore, apparently it was on all their minds. "I remember several Maidens asking that, none actually asked me but they were close enough so that I would have had to be deaf to hear it. I seem to recall some talk of making bridal wreaths for me, of giving up the spear, but I must have been imagining things." The Maiden beside me blushed more, I didn't remember the voices but she might have been the one who said that. After a sigh I continued, "You haven't shamed me, one of you was right though. I fought the Shaido at Cairhien but I wasn't standing in the bodies, that was the first time I've ever been around so much death. I lived in a place where I always heard about people dying, but I never saw it. When I came here I saw people die around me, but never like that. I don't think I will ever be able to see death like that without, well I don't think I will cry next time, but I won't ever see something like that without feeling terrible. If I can look at a battlefield and not feel sorrow for so much death, I won't be human anymore."

The nameless Maiden rejoined her spear-sisters, it was strange to examine what I felt so openly with women I had never spoken with before.

Cairhien was decked out for a celebration though, people in the streets looked as though they had been up late and there were decorations in windows and in the streets. The closer we got to the Sun Palace the more decorations there were, but I noticed that the decorations were the only happy things in the streets even if the commoners had been celebrating the night before. Most stared and pointed at Rand, many had seen him before and more knew what a group of Aiel guarding a man meant. The Aiel in the streets knew as well.

The Royal Palace of Cairhien, the Sun Palace, the Palace of the Rising Sun in Splendor, Cairhienin were great ones for names, each more extravagant than the last, stood atop the highest hill in the city, a dark mass of square stone with stepped towers looming over everything. The street, the Way of the Crown, became a long broad ramp rising toward the palace, and stared up at the tall spires. Perrin watched the Palace with grim intensity, Faile was up there and he wouldn't be happy unless she was in his arms.

The guards on the great, open bronze gates watched their slow approach and exchanged glances. They were colorful for Cairhienin soldiers, ten men with the Rising Sun in gold on their dark breastplates and scarves in House Saighan's colors tied below the heads of their halberds. It was easy to see what they were thinking. Thirteen men on horseback, but in no hurry, and only two wearing armor, one in Mayener red. Any trouble would come from Caraline Damodred and Toram Riatin, and Mayeners had no place in that. And there was a woman, and an Ogier. Surely they intended no trouble. Still, three dozen or so Maidens trotting ahead of the horses hardly looked as though they were coming for tea. For an instant all hung balanced. Then a Maiden veiled herself. The guards jerked as if goosed, and one slanted his halberd and darted for the gates. Two steps he took, and stopped, rigid as a statue. Every guard stood stiff; nothing moved but their heads. The Asha'man had wrapped them in flows of the Power, they knew how to wield the Power well.

"Good" Rand murmured. "Now tie off the flows and leave them for later."

There were no more soldiers after we entered the courtyard, the Asha'man had restrained several more guards before we made it to this point. Liveried servants came out to take the horses, and I followed the small army into the Palace at it's rear. I didn't want to be beside Perrin when he started asking everyone who moved about Faile, it only made me think how I would react if Moiraine was in danger.

"Where is Colavaere?" Rand asked. There had been talking ahead but I wasn't really paying attention, Rand was going to strip the former Queen of Cairhien of everything she had soon, and she would hang herself later. There was nothing good about what happened today except that no one would die before the sun set. I hope that at least.

The group moved on, more talking had taken place and I watched from the background. The women of the 'societies' had joined Rand's group, the Maidens looked disgusted and Perrin looked ready to use his axe on someone. Rand and Min walked behind the society nobles, and half the Maidens, but Rand seemed alone amidst all of them. Alone, standing against the might of evil. He, Perrin, and Mat would stand together at the Last Battle and defeat the Dark One but it would be Rand who would do it. Lews Therin Kinslayer reborn.

Colavaere's guards at the doors to the Grand Hall dropped to their knees when they saw Rand, "So I am loved." I didn't hear him say it, but I knew he did when he patted Min's hand. He was granite, and I was going to help Cadsuane soften him enough to cry and laugh again. I would do that if it killed me, he had to survive not me.

Just like in the book, I thought to myself. Everything was happening just as it did in the books. It was still suprising that despite everything I had done, and would do, that the Pattern wove things just as I knew them.

The Grand Hall of the Sun was immense, with an angle-vaulted ceiling a full fifty paces high at its peak and great golden lamps hung on gilded chains thick enough to move the gates of a fortress. It was immense, and it was full, people crowding among massive square columns of blue-black veined marble that stood in two rows to either side of the center aisle. The folk at the rear noticed the newcomers first. In long coats and short, some in bright colors or embroidered, some travel-worn, they stared curiously. Intently. The few women in the back of the hall wore riding dresses and had faces as hard as the men, gazes as direct.

Hunters for the Horn, Dobraine had said that every noble who could be there would, and most Hunters were nobly born, or claimed to be. Whether or not they recognized Rand, they sensed something, hands feeling for swords and daggers that were not there this evening. More Hunters than not sought adventure and a place in the histories along with the Horn of Valere. Even if they did not know the Dragon Reborn, they knew danger when they saw it.

The others in the Grand Hall were less attuned to danger, or rather, more to intrigues and plots than to open hazard. Perrin was a third of the way down the long center aisle, close on Rand's heels, before gasps ran through the chamber like a wind. Pale Cairhienin lords with colorful slashes across the chests of their dark silk coats, some with the front of their heads shaved and powdered; Cairhienin ladies with stripes on their dark highnecked gowns and lace falls covering their hands, their hair in intricate towers that often added a good foot of height. Tairen High Lords and Lords of the Land with oiled beards trimmed to points, in velvet hats and coats of red and blue and every color, with puffy, satin-striped sleeves; Tairen ladies in even more colorful gowns, with wide lace ruffs and close caps studded with pearls and moonstones, firedrops and rubies. They knew Perrin, and they knew Dobraine and even Havien and Min, but most importantly, they knew Rand. A ripple of knowing that kept pace up the Hall with him. Eyes widening, jaws dropping, they went so stiff Perrin almost thought the Asha'man had bound them like the guards outside the palace. The chamber was a sea of sweet perfumes, and beneath that undercurrents of salty sweat, but through it oozed fear, a quivering sort of smell.

At the far end of the Hall, on the deep blue marble dais where the Sun Throne stood, shining like its namesake with gilt, the wavy-rayed Rising Sun huge atop the high back stood Colavaere. Colavaere rose slowly, peering down the aisle over Rand's head. Her nearly black dress bore not a single stripe of nobility, but the great mass of curls rising above her head had to have been dressed around the crown she wore, the Rising Sun in gold and yellow diamonds. Seven young women flanked the Sun Throne in dark bodiced gowns with lace snugged under their chins and skirts striped vertically in Colavaere's yellow and red and silver. It seemed that Cairhienin fashion was different for the Queen, and for the Queen's attendants.

Rand touched Sulin's sleeve. "Wait here," he said. Scowling, the scar on her leathery face standing out as white as her hair, she scanned his face, then nodded with obvious reluctance. Her free hand gestured anyway, and another gasp ran through the chamber as the Maidens veiled. It was almost laughable; the eight men in black coats, trying to watch everywhere at once, could probably kill them all before the first Maiden drove home a spear, but no one knew who or what they were. No one looked at them twice, a handful of men with their swords sheathed. Only at the Maidens. And Rand. Hadn't they noticed that the Asha'man and myself were sweating as little as Rand?

Making my way through the Maidens that were waiting I stood beside Perrin, "Faile thinks you are being controlled by Aes Sedai, that's why she is so nervous. I suggest you don't mention Berelain at all, it will make things easier."

Perrin only nodded, I guessed that he had decided I knew everything that was going on and didn't question me at all.

I watched the nobles as Rand and Colavaere spoke, I watched how he broke and made the Sun Crown whole again, then went back to watching the assembled Lords and Ladies. They were all terrified, some were hiding it quite well, most were doing their best to remain somewhat composed.

"Annoura, advise me. Come, Annoura! Advise me!"

The woman who stepped from behind the throne did not wear the striped skirts of an attendant. A broad face with a wide mouth and a beak of a nose regarded Rand from beneath dozens of long thin dark braids. An ageless face. "I cannot do this, Colavaere," the Aes Sedai said in a Taraboner accent, shifting her gray-fringed shawl. "I fear I have allowed you to misperceive my relationship to you." One of the Asha'man wove a shield around her. Drawing a deep breath, she added, "There ... there is no need for this, Master al'Thor." Her voice became slightly unsteady for a moment. "Or my Lord Dragon, if you prefer. I assure you, I harbor no ill intentions toward you. If I did, I would have struck before you knew I was here."

"You might well have died if you had," Rand's voice was icy steel; his face made it seem soft. "I'm not who has you shielded, Aes Sedai. Who are you? Why are you here? Answer me! I don't have much patience with... your kind. Unless you want to be hauled out to the Aiel camp? I wager the Wise Ones can make you speak freely."

Annoura Larisen explained herself to the Dragon Reborn, Rand al'Thor was not standing before the Sun Throne and the pained look on Min's face confirmed that she wanted nothing more than to take him away and make him his old self again. Colavaere Saighan denied, then tried to deny, then begged for mercy for her crimes before the Dragon Reborn. I watched Rand struggle before stripping the woman of everything she held dear, and I saw Rand catch her as she fainted. It was good to know it was him who had caught her, he wasn't as hard as the Asha'man behind him. Not yet.

"This audience is at an. end," Rand said. "I will forget every face that departs now."

Those at the front, the highest-ranking, the most powerful, began their progress toward the doors without too much haste, avoiding the Maidens and the Asha'man standing in the aisle, while the rest waited their turn. Every mind must have been turning over what Rand had said, though. What precisely did he mean by "now"? Purposeful strides quickened, skirts were lifted. Hunters, nearest the doors, began slipping out, first one at a time, then in a flood, and seeing them, lesser nobles among the Cairhienin and Tairens darted ahead of the higher. In moments it was a milling mass at the doors, men and women pushing and elbowing to get out. Not one looked back at the woman stretched out before the throne she had held so briefly.

Rand passed through the crowd on the way to his rooms, the flood of bodies pressing to get out parted for him as if by magic but it was only fear of the Dragon that did it. I followed behind, I had rooms here if they hadn't been taken and I wouldn't mind a good nights sleep after the nightmares I had at Dumai's Wells.

I did have nightmares, but not the kind I had expected. I saw Morgase, or at least an older Elayne, being tortured by two men. There wasn't a mark on her when the one man was done with her, Asunawa of the Questioners, but Valda took her to his bed. It made me scream in fury because I couldn't do anything, I could only watch. When Valda was done with Morgase, I knew it was her because the same thing happened in the books, her eyes found mine in the darkness.

Lifeless eyes held my own, her mouth opened and I read the word she spoke on her lips rather than hearing it, "Tomorrow."

This would happen tomorrow? And if I went to the Dome of Truth and found that it had already happened? Light! I didn't get any sleep after that.

******A/N: N/A**


	13. Chapter 13 : Morgase

**A look into the author's mind (feel free to skip if you want to get on to the story).  
**This bothered me more than I though it would. Or rather, what Taylor prevents bothered me. I love reading and watching movies but for some reason that is unknown to me, I get embarrassed by things that happen to people on screen (usually the humiliating or outrageously comedic stuff). And I, I don't want to say empathize but it's the closest thing to it, with the pain that characters go through in books. For example, I muscled through it, but I can no longer read Egwene's time with the Seanchan. I just can't do it. I feel awful every time the Sul'dam hurt Egwene, to the point that it's almost painful for me to read it. Rand's torture by the Aes Sedai is similarly difficult for me to read. So when I read what Asunawa and Valda did to Morgase, it tore me up inside. I got shivery just thinking about what Asunawa could have done to her to make her want to go to Valda. **  
End of a look into the author's mind.**

BACK TO THE STORY!!!

"Min wanted to speak with you before you left," Rand was sprawled in the Dragon Throne in his room, a monstrosity of epic perportions to say the least.

I turned to face the door Min had gone through as soon as I entered, "Min is avoiding me Rand, I don't want to know what she told you about me unless it's going to happen within the next day or so. I'll be gone part of the day, all of it at most. I'll be back by tomorrow and she can tell me what she saw then. I have to do something, I can't let it happen, not this."

"What? You can stop anything, do anything from what I've seen."

"I'm not the Creator Rand, even if I wanted to I can't save everyone," my own thought struck me like a blow and I re-evaluated everything I'd gone through up to this point. I was doing the best I could with what I knew. I saved lives in the battle with the Shaido in Cairhien and at Dumai's Wells, I had prevented Isendra from being strangled and kept Avienda, Mat, and Asmodeon safe from Rahvin's attack. I was doing what I could, I might be able to do more but at what cost? People were going to die whatever I did and I had to accept that. I just didn't have to like it.

"Where are you going?"

"Amador, I have to pay the Lord Captain Commander a visit."

The gateway opened seemingly without warning, inside a room in the Fortress of the Light and I stepped through. The gateway closed behind me before Rand could ask more questions and I smiled to myself when I saw a White Cloak trying desperately to grab his sword while getting his pants on. I laughed when the man fell over in his attempts.

I had never used Compulsion before, but the weaves came to mind the second I thought about them. "Take me to Morgase." The White Cloak would have gone then and there if I didn't command him to put on his clothes before hand, I hated this form of Compulsion, it made people mindless puppets. If they could think when under it's effects I might have thought a little better of it but as it was Compulsion required me to order everything that I wanted the man to do.

The man pulled on his white cloak and there were two knots of rank on it, I had stumbled on an officer, good. He led me through the corridors of the fortress, I wouldn't have been able to find my way if I had run around all day, and we stopped in front of a door with two men standing guard. Basil Gill and Lamgwin. They did not see me, a simple weave of Fire and Air made me invisible to all but those who could see Saidin or Saidar. I hadn't bothered to invert the weaves, no Aes Sedai or Black Ajah would be here. I waited until the man had passed by before letting the illusion drop away, both men started out of their relaxed poses.

"I am here to see Morgase," both men were staring at my ears and probably wondering if I was Shadowspawn. "I need to speak with her." Using compulsion on these men didn't seem necessary but they would have kept me here too long for my liking. Lamgwin opened the door without hesitation, and Master Gill waited patiently as I walked passed them. Inside, Tallanvor stood in front of another door and an old woman rocked back and forth in a chair knitting. Lini, Morgase's and her children's nurse. I smiled at the elderly woman, but scowled when Tallanvor drew his sword. "Put it back," I gestured with my arm and flows of Air pushed the sword back into its scabbard and his hand away. "I need to speak with Morgase, I will be a while." Unable to draw his sword, and knowing it was useless to try and stop me, the man still threw himself at me in a vain attempt to stop me from reaching his Queen.

He tried to tackle me in my middle, but hit a solid wall of Air and bounced back. Rubbing his shoulder he glared at me and launched himself at me again, "You will not have her, Darkfriend!"

Darkfriend? He must have assumed I had killed Lamgwin and Basil to get here. He hit the wall of Air again, this time from a different angle. "I will do no harm to her, in fact I intend to stop her from being tortured by Asunawa and Valda. If you will kindly stop jumping at me I will go inside and explain this to her. If she insists, I will leave and allow Asunawa and Valda to have there way with her." Lini hadn't moved this entire time, I guessed that she realized there was nothing she could do then and was biding her time to strike.

"Let him pass Tallanvor," Lini's strong but wiry voice brought up all kinds of old sayings to the front of my mind. Lini was a great one for old sayings.

The fool stubborn man didn't budge, so I moved him myself. Opening the door with Air, I stopped Breane in mid air with a dagger in her hands. I set her down gently beside where I had put Tallanvor, walked into the room and closed the door.

"You channel Saidar," Morgase was sitting in a slightly guilded chair looking every bit the queen she was. I had to remember to breathe again when I saw her, Elayne would be amazingly beautiful if she grew up like her mother had. Lanfear was possibly the only woman I had seen who was more than Morgase, but that didn't matter now.

"I wield both sides of the Power, Majesty." I had only used titles when I felt they were deserved, and I had spoken to few who deserved the titles they held. Morgase had a right to hers. "I don't suppose you heard the conversation I had with Tallanvor, the door seemed thick enough to be mostly sound proof. I am not here to harm you," a slight nod of her head was all I got in acknoledgment, "quite the opposite really. Asunawa will be calling on you today." She didn't tremble, but there was a slight twitch in her fingers that betrayed her lack of calm at my statement. "After he has had his way with you, Valda will ask you a question. I will not let either thing happen if you don't wish it, but I will not stop them if you ask me to step aside."

Morgase stared at me for a long time, ignoring the pounding on the doors and muffled shouts from Tallanvor and the other men. "Who are you?"

"I am Kel Aridavin, Hand of the Creator." Morgase's eyes bulged at that, no one who had heard me claim what I was had been able to hide their shock. Only a madman would claim to be one of the Forsaken but it had been done, none had claimed to be anything of the Creator's except aligned to Her. Her, because I knew somehow the Creator was female. "I have been aiding Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara. They are what stand against the Shadow, if they fail, the world fails."

"The Dragon, you know him? You serve him?"

"I serve no one, I aid the Dragon and his companions. Rand is trying to find Elayne so she can take the Lion Throne, he has more pressing issues elsewhere. Andor, at least, he wishes to remain whole while he tries to unify the land against Tarmon Gai'don. You have heard rumors about him, many are true but twisted. Rumor claims that he killed you and Elayne, I was with Elayne only a few days ago and know that she is safe." Tension drained out of Morgase, but she remained erect, regal. "I cannot tell you where she is, and I will not tell her that you are alive. The Daughter-Heir will learn that you live without my aid, it must be this way."

There was a scuffle in the outer room, quickly supressed, and the door banged open to admit Eamon Valda and Rhadam Asunawa. Morgase saw the flows I wove even if she was too weak to touch the True Source nine times out of ten herself. Everyone in the next room seemed to freeze where they were, Valda and Asunawa did as well.

"They are going to torture me?" I nodded, and worse but she didn't know it. "How will you stop it if I allow you?"

"Aes Sedai have forgotten much, and no longer do much of what could be done and so have forgotten that as well. I will, compel them to remember torturing you but they will not actually have done anything. You would be much better off if you allow me to do what I can. Asunawa will bruise your skin, but Valda will scar your soul." Morgase shivered at that, her self control little protection now. "If I told you exactly what they plan on, would it help you decide?" My voice was soft and filled with sympathy for what might come, she knew what that meant.

"Do what you will, if they believe they have done something it will be for the best."

I did, and Morgase insisted on watching what I made Asunawa and Valda remember. Exactly what happened in the books.

**A/N: For those of you wondering what they did (didn't catch what went on in the books), Asunawa tortured Morgase (pretty straight forward), then Valda asked if she would want to have sex with him. Morgase, unable to bear the thought of being tortured by Asunawa again, agreed to sleep with Valda to get away from the Questioner. It was rape, no matter that she agreed to it. I think rape is one of the most depraved acts human beings can perform, and I pray you do as well.**

**A/N: Taylor got a my attempt at a higher speech lesson from me in this chapter because I wanted to see if I could do it, for those of you who caught that congrats, but he won't be doing that again. I think.**


	14. Chapter 14 : Talk of Bargains

**A/N: I am a censoreding machine. 5 updates in one day. (It's 20 after midnight, and I'm still awake so it's the same day)**

Rand didn't need me, so I stopped off to say I would be leaving unless Min wanted to tell me about the aura's around me. She didn't, so I opened a gateway to Ebou Dar. I knew the place I wanted to go, so opening a gateway for Traveling wasn't difficult. I stepped through and looked around to see if I had caused any damage. Elayne, Nynaeve, Aviendha and Birgitte were in my room. They had been talking but now were just staring at me. "I know I'm good looking but you don't have to stare!" Jokingly of course, but Nynaeve looked as though she had been slapped. What were they doing in my room?

"Taylor, we thought you might come back today so we decided to wait in your room." That from Elayne, but she looked sheepish and was rubbing the back of her left hand. The hand that would have turned purple if it had gone through one of my wards protecting my angreal and ter'angreal. It didn't look purple, she might have removed the weave before I entered. Why purple instead of red? I wasn't sure.

"Well I'm here, what is it that you wanted?" I glanced at each woman briefly, Aviendha appeared defiant, Nynaeve looked stubborn, and Birgitte had a small grin on her face. Elayne still looked a bit flustered, and a small movement of her eyes in the direction of the place I had put my angreal told me that I had been right. Elayne had gone searching through my room and found the ward. Probably tried to remove it too, and got an upset stomach from that. The final ward, had she been able to make it through the other ones, would have killed her if she was using Saidin. No one was saying anything, so I waited. Silence was a powerful tool, and the look I was directing at Elayne spoke volumes of what I knew about her, specifically what she had done today or yesterday.

"We are going to the Sea Folk today, to see if they will assist us when we get the bowl ter'angreal that can change the weather. You know how that happens in your future, if you came with us it would make things easier." Nynaeve recieved a greatful look from Elayne for changing the subject.

The Sea Folk, the bargain they would strike would enrage Aes Sedai for sure once it became common knowledge, which it hadn't by the time book 11 was done. "It doesn't turn out very well at all I'm afraid, not what I know. You manage to make a mess of things because you don't know enough about what the bowl is, but I don't think changing how the bargain's details are worked out will do any harm. I think you will want to thank me in advance though, and Merilille might want to thank me on her knees. She gets the worst of the Bargain."

"The coach is here Taylor," Aviendha said quickly after putting her head into the room.

"Yes of course," I replied. I hated Ebou Dar, having to be exceptionally polite had irritated me to no end. I tried staying in my room as often as possible but completely avoiding the touchy folk was near to impossible. In the few days I was there before I left to help Rand at Dumai's Wells I had been challenged to sixteen duels! Two were my fault, but the other fourteen were most certainly not. I no longer hid my ears from sight, and they drew attention, I was nearly positive that seven of the duels had been about my ears.

The carriage was waiting, and so was the boat to take us to the Sea Folk ship. The women talked as if I wasn't there at all, in truth, I had tried to be as invisible as possible. When the Windfinder's realized that I wasn't just some kind of servant it would be to late to gain back the advantage. The discussion of Mat perked my interest, Nynaeve suggested that I talk with him and I flat out refused. Elayne then suggested Birgitte and it was as it should be, I breathed a little easier until the boat lurched to a stop and it sent my breakfast into the side of my stomach in a most unpleasant fashion. I had never gotten sea sick but that certainly made me feel a mite queasy.

I was last to leave the cabin on the ship but I heard Elayne's words of comfort to Aviendha, "Distances bother me, sometimes, over water. I think I will look only at the ship, myself. Nothing else." Aviendha would look, and curse herself for a fool.

Nynaeve's tactic of shouting at the deckhands on the Sea Folk ship didn't work just as Elayne's tactic of smoothing things over did. The plank was lowered for the women and both Birgitte and I punched the two oarsmen when they tried to look up Elayne's skirts. The hero of a hundred legends nodded to me approvingly, but didn't say anything. She avoided conversation with me, hardly saying more than two words before finding some excuse to go somewhere else. The board lowered for Nynaeve, and I was forced to crack the men's heads together to stop them from staring. My turn came, and I climbed the ropes rather than wait for the men to pull up the plank. It was faster that way and it made them re-evaluate me to some extent.

Aviendha gawked at the Atha'an Miere and their piercings. I wondered what she would think if I showed her pictures of what people in my world did to their bodies, even the Sea Folk would gawk at that! For their benefit I did stare a little, if I was completely unconcerned it might draw suspicion. The Wavemistress was approaching, by the number of earrings and medallions she had on the chain from her nose to ear.

"I am Malin din Toral Breaking Wave," the woman said, "Wavemistress of Clan Somarin and Sailmistress of Windrunner." She seemed at a loss, looking from one face to the next, until her eye fell on the Great Serpent rings Elayne and Nynaeve wore, and then she exhaled in resignation. "If it pleases you to come with me, Aes Sedai?" she said to Nynaeve.

The cabin at the back of the ship was built to accommodate men shorter than myself and I had to stoop a little even between the thick beams that supported the ceiling. Rand would have to bend his head nearly at a right angle to stand in here, I could bend my knees a bit and I was able to raise my head a little more. Everything was built into place, except for a few chests, so that nothing would move with the motions of the ships. It wasn't a quarter as impressive as the cruise ship I had been on when my family went on vacation to the Bahamma's, every ship in the harbour would have seemed an insect compared to the monstrosity of metal and design that I rode on.

A spindly old man and a handsome woman with eight earrings all told sat on either side of a stout woman who looked as old as the man. Nesta din Reas Two Moons, if I didn't miss my guess. I didn't like her, but that didn't mean she didn't deserve respect. She had the same commanding air about her as Sorelia or Amys, she gave orders and others followed them without thinking about it. It was going to be amusing when she found I didn't even twitch when she said hop.

Giving a searching one over to Elayne and Nynaeve, she muttered something when she saw their Great Serpent rings. When she came to Birgitte she gave her a more considering once over and then spoke with a voice like rocks crumbling, "You are not an Aes Sedai."

"By the nine winds and Stormbringer's beard, I am not," Birgitte replied curtly, and didn't look best pleased at the alacrity of her response. Nesta gave a start at the Atha'an Miere oath Birgitte used and then moved over to Aviendha.

"You are not Aes Sedai, either," she grated, I wondered if this woman ever got tired of herself. Probably not, so full of herself that she could have filled ten or twelve hot air balloons before she was half done, I expected that if I pricked her ego she would sail through the sky for a long time before coming down.

"I am Aviendha, of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel." That brought a satisfactory jump to the Mistress of the Ships.

"You are not garbed as I expected girl," was all she gave for a reply before coming to me. "Your ears," it was almost an accusation, "what are you some kind of servant?"

"I am Taylor, Nesta din Reas Two Moons, no more." I gave no bow, no nod. We were equals, and her gaze hardened when she realized that, and the fact that I knew her name before she gave it, but I suspected she was more offended that I thought myself an equal to her.

"I am Nesta din Reas Two Moons, Mistress of the Ships to the Atha'an Miere." She added the titles, and had placed herself in front of us and studied us as if we were some kind of beast she had not come across before. "How do you know what you know?"

Nynaeve gave the angry response, Elayne smoothed things over, and I lounged against the wall of the ship as if I had nothing better to do with my life. "We have come for two reasons. The lesser is to ask how you mean to aid the Dragon Reborn, who according to the Jendai Prophecy you call the Coramoor. The greater is to request the help of this vessel's Windfinder. Whose name," she added gently, "I regret I do not yet know."

Hasty introductions were met, pleasantries exchanged, it was ridiculous really but customs must be upheld. Nesta managed to insult the women twice before Elayne was able to describe the Bowl of the Winds. I could have told them the name if they had asked, I would have. I might have even told them I could do the whole thing myself! I wouldn't have, the Sea Folk were necessary for a large part of the future.

"You truly have it?" The Wavemistress's eyes were fixed on Elayne eagerly, and she also took an involuntary step.

"We are looking for it," Elayne said. "But we know it is in Ebou Dar. If it is the same—"

"It must be," Malin din Toral exclaimed. "By your description, it must!"

"The Bowl of the Winds," Dorile din Eiran breathed. "To think it would be found again after two thousand years here! It must be the Coramoor. He must have—"

Nesta din Reas' hands slapped together loudly. "Do I see a Wavemistress and her Windfinder, or two deckgirls at their first shipmeet?" Malin din Toral's cheeks reddened with a proud anger, and she bent her head stiffly, pride in that as well. Twice as flushed, Dorile din Eiran bowed, touching fingertips to forehead, lips and heart.

The Shipmistress frowned at them a moment, before going on. "Baroc, summon the other Wavemistresses who hold this port, and the First Twelve as well. With their Windfinders. And let them know you will hoist them by their toes in their own rigging if they do not hurry." As he rose, she added, "Oh. And have tea sent down. Working out the terms of this bargain will be thirsty."

Baroc, the Master of Blades I assumed, went and told whomever it was to carry out the Mistress of the Ships orders, and then was shooed away by Nesta when the tea was brought. Birgitte and Aviendha were taken away by the Wavemistress and the Windfinder, and I followed Nynaeve and Elayne when they sat with Nesta to discuss the beginnings of the bargain.

"Now," she spread her hands wide, "if it pleases the Light we shall begin."

I had told the women that I could use the ter'angreal on my own, and how they could get around some of the demans that Nesta would more than likely make but to acced to most of the demans. Elayne began, "We have come as a courtesy to you because we has suspicions that the Atha'an Miere were the original owners of the Bowl after the Breaking. We want your assistance when we use the Bowl because Windfinders know more of weather than any Aes Sedai alive." She didn't mention that I knew enough to put every woman here to shame if I put my head to it. "Because of this, we are prepared to relinquish the Bowl into your possesion after we have used it and the weather returns to normal."

The weather was as hot as I could have imagined, if it had touched me that is. Knowing how Aes Sedai and Asha'man ignored the heat was something I took very much for granted now. "You came to me, not I to you. That sets the basis of our bargain even if you are Aes Sedai," the Mistress of the Ships barked. I heard Aviendha request a bucket and smiled, Nesta's glare turned on me but it did nothing to tame my good mood. "You have no advantage in this, as you say you need Windfinders for the weaving."

"No, Mistress," I cut in ignoring the glares she and Nynaeve gave me, "we have every advantage. We came as a courtesy, not as a request. The Bowl of the Winds belonged to your people once, but it is no longer in your possesion or will be unless certain details are worked out." Advantage, us.

Nesta was not pleased that I knew what she wanted and that I could balk her on almost argument she made, she thought she gained some advantage when more Wavemistresses and their Windfinders arrived to intimidate, but I ignored them completely and so the advantage was taken away. The bargain went much the same way as it had in the book, except that the details were slightly different. The twenty Aes Sedai teachers were negotiated for but the Atha'an Miere were to be students in every way, not women demanding information. Everything asked for would be taught but I hammered into the agreement that the teachers were to be above students, and the Mistress of the Ships was suprised to know that I knew what rank they gave teachers. Also, while the agreement was made that the Atha'an Miere would never be forced into going to the Tower, the Atha'an Miere would agree to allow any who wished to become Aes Sedai the privilege without molestation. The Sea Folk sisters that were already in the Tower were given the chance to leave the Aes Sedai, and the Bowl of the Winds would return to the Atha'an Miere after the weather had returned to normal. And because Windfinders would be learning from Aes Sedai, the Gift of Passage could only be refused to Aes Sedai for legitimate reasons, not to hide the fact that many Windfinders could really channel.

It took all day to get all the details figured out, the constant arguing and back talk annoyed me to no end. At one point one of the Mistress of the Ships questioned one of the Windfinders about something and I could imagine what it was, whether they could shield the women or not to bring the advantage into their favor. It seemed to be rejected, probably because we didn't have the Bowl yet. If they had, there were seven Windfinders of moderate strength, I would have been able to overpower them. All in all, I found that as we left the Atha'an Miere ships I was pleased with how it turned out. Elayne and Nynaeve weren't quite as happy, but if I told them what would have happened they would have been in much higher spirits.

**A/N: I wasn't really censored, I just put that in for fun. XD**


	15. Chapter 15 : Rant

"How did you do that?" Nynaeve asked, when we were back on the mainland. She had been green the entire way back, and Aviendha wasn't much better, but now that she was on solid ground she started making demands again.

"I seem to be an acomplished stones player, dueling with words is just a twist in tactics. Also, I do have an advantage in this area. Considering that Sea Folk always want to get the most out of any bargain, I bluffed several advantages and let them think that weaknesses in our argument weren't important enough to be bothered with. I imagine I could have gotten away with much more and she would have wondered if I was ta'veren." In truth, I had no idea how I had done that. My 'discussions' with Moiraine had never gone that well. It was probably because I already knew what the Wave Mistress wanted that I was able to argue so well.

Already the streets were decorated for Swovan Night, I didn't think I would get a chance to go out. Not that I wanted to, but it might have been nice to be part of a celebration instead of all this seriousness. Our carriage lumbered down the streets, I sat in uncomfortable silence with the women all staring at me. Elayne looked through me, though, probably trying to figure out how she didn't come onto this conclusion herself. Nynaeve glowered at me, I hadn't even acknoledged that she spoke to me the rest of the time we were on the boat and when she tried to knock me over the head I dunked her in the bay water. Aviendha and Birgitte laughed uproarously, and Elayne nearly managed to maintain a straight face for a time before joining them. Nynaeve had glowered at me the rest of the way to shore and continued glaring even when she got into the carriage, nearly tripping over the steps to get in.

I had never met Tylin, and when she came to the sitting room to ask if the women would accompany her to the ball she paid me special interest. I hoped desperately that Mat was already firmly entrenched in her mind as her future pretty. The women refused her offer, they were waiting for Birgitte to speak with Mat about the Bowl, and sat down in a circle around me with Thom and Juilin.

"What are you?" Nynaeve demanded for perhaps the hundredth time. She had asked me several times during our stay at Ebou Dar and I had ignored or avoided the question every time. "How can you channel both sides of the Power and how do you know about events before they happen?"

I ignored her, which made her angry enough to channel. The light of Saidar surrounded her and she wove a shield to cut me off from the Source. Acting as if nothing was different I still ignored her, but not the question, "I don't know what I am, but I know who I am. Kel 'Aridavin, Hand of the Creator." The stunned silence that followed allowed me to explain everything without interruption, eyes popped and mouths hung open, but I was not going to hide anymore. I left nothing out except what might happen and Moiraine.

"You," Nynaeve had let the shield drop long ago, "you know how to break my block?"

"No," I lied, well it was partly true. How was I supposed to make her surrender completely without nearly killing her? "I know some things and others I do not. I know enough to realize that if I took an active role in events that I may change things from what might happen and if I do that I will only be able to help with my strength, not knowledge. I have changed some things, speeding victory at Cairhien and at Dumai's Wells, but if I had stopped them all together it would alter the course of the Pattern and I would only be taking away our advantage. The bargain we negotiated with the Sea Folk if different from what I know but mostly the same, the Aes Sedai will be far more willing to accept this bargain than the other that you negotiated without me." I explained what would have come of the bargain and Nynaeve nearly shuddered to herself and Elayne looked a bit pale. I didn't tell them that they would be bringing the Windfinders with them to Caemlyn or that Mat would arrange another bargain with the Windfinders.

"I will have to leave though, I need to return to Rand and help him with a situation he will get himself into."

"Taylor," Elayne flushed slightly and Aviendha also looked to have a bit more red in her cheeks, "could we talk with you alone?"

"I won't be leaving for a few days," Elayne and Aviendha rose together and the Daughter-Heir took my arm, leading me to her room. It was finely decorated with colors enough to make a Tinker feel at home, the bed was huge.

"About Rand," Elayne began, but a blush bloomed on her face and stopped whatever else she had to say.

What could I say? If they knew he loved all three of them what would they do? Would they continue what they were about or dash headlong into his arms in Caemlyn? "I can't," both of them looked crestfallen, "it will work out, in a way. I promise that." In a way? Light they all wanted him! I would be green with envy that three beautiful women loved him and would be willing to share him, except that I didn't think I could handel one of these women. "Continue getting to know each other, it will be essential later." Their smiles returned but I hadn't really given them a definate answer. Almost an Aes Sedai anwer really, I wanted to tell them he loved each of them, that he wanted to marry all of them, but I couldn't. They had to find that out on their own.

Mat though, he would have been attacked already by Carridin's thugs and now Birgitte was drinking away with him because Elayne was starting to get tipsy. Thom joined me when he and Juilin came in and sat at the table to play stones with me. We both focused on what the othere was doing, I watched him play around with stones before setting them down and I rolled the stones over my knuckles before placing them. It was a type of distraction if the other fell for it, both of us were trying to exasperate the other and make them play a stone in the wrong spot. At one point, I thought Thom had me trapped. His stones had cut off a large number of my own because I was focused on another trap he was laying. I sacrificed the second trap to save the larger number while placing my own trap that Thom just didn't quite see, that brought us to a draw twenty stones later. The first game I had lost after getting the jist of it.

"A draw!" Thom sounded triumphant, but I knew he was trying to figure out what was distracting me. I never lost, I had played over fifty games in this world and I hadn't lost yet. If it were possible, and if it was still around, I supposed I could beat Moridin at his favorite game after I got the hang of it. Strategy was essential in stones, but that was all I seemed able to put that skill to. I could stare at a map all day, moving markers for armies around and not see how to make a victory. On my own I could, weilding the Power I could slaughter armies. I already had, but that didn't make what I could do justifiable.

It was late now, Birgitte should be coming back drunk. Elayne was tipsy enough, and any moment she would give away how they got in and out of the Tarisan Palace without anyone knowing. Nynaeve was glowering at the note Mat had left for them, then she glowered at everyone in the room. Every time she looked at me I gave her a sweet smile that made her tug her braid sharply, which made me laugh, which made her tug her hair again.

"Are you sure you didn't tell him anything?" she demanded.

Juilin had taken my place across from Thom and was waging a lost war against the far more skilled player. I could see where he should have gone, and if Thom was gulible enough could still go, but it was too late for the thief-catcher. "How often must I say so?"

"You should have sent Juilin and myself Nynaeve, I think it would have gone more smoothly." Thom was putting the stones back into the back he kept, Julin was trying to decide how he had lost the game even while Thom put it away.

"You'd have gone off carousing and drinking with him," she muttered. "Don't tell me you would not."

"And what if they had?" Leaning beside one of the tall arched windows, peering out at the night through the white-painted iron balcony, Elayne giggled. She was tapping her foot, though how she could make out one tune from all those floating in the darkness was a wonder. "It is a night for... carousing."

She was tipsy alright, Aviendha asked about Carridin and Thom explained why Queen Tylin couldn't simply arrest him. I wasn't paying that much attention though, Elayne seemed to have a halo above her head from the moonlight and she moved back and forth so enticingly it was a wonder my eyes didn't pop out of my head. No one else seemed to notice what the Daughter-Heir was doing, but she saw me staring. A glance over her shoulder told me she had known I was watching her the whole time, and I managed not to blush. She was showing off, and it was having the desired effect. I hoped dearly that she wouldn't decide to try anything more with me before she realized what Birgitte's bond was doing to her.

"I know," Elayne said suddenly, she appeared to have forgotten me and I breathed a sigh of relief. "We'll find proof even Pedron Niall must accept." She danced back into the room. "We will disguise ourselves and follow him."

Suddenly, it was no longer Elayne standing there in a green Ebou Dari gown, but a Domani woman in thin clinging blue. Nynaeve leaped up and both Thom and Juilin had their mouths hanging open.

"And we can't forget you," Elayne babbled on. "I know just the thing." She was looking at Nynaeve, and I saw the weave of Illusion wrap around the former Wisdom. I stared just as much as Thom or Juilin, an Atha'an Miere woman stood where Nynaeve had been in green silk trousers and nothing else.

A strangled squawk erupted from her throat. "Close your eyes!" she shouted at the us and began leaping about, waving her arms, anything to make her dress show through. "Close them, burn you!" I was laughing as hard as Aviendha was, the sun darkened skin of the Atha'an Miere woman burned in embarasment. Nynaeve embraced the Source and tried to shield Elayne, "Love of the Light, Elayne, are you drunk?"

Elayne let go of the Power, and both Illusions fell away, No," Elayne said slowly. Color burned in her face, but it was not embarrassment, or not entirely. Her chin rose, and her voice frosted. "I am not." She was, in a way. The bond between Warder and Aes Sedai was not supposed to work that way, but with two women the rules changed.

Birgitte fell into the room, staggering in her drunkeness. "I did not expect you all to remain awake for me," she said brightly. "Well, you'll be interested to hear what I have to say. But first..." With the too steady steps of someone carrying considerable drink inside, she vanished into her room.

Thom stared at her door with a bemused grin, Juilin with an incredulous one. They knew who she was, the truth of it. Elayne just glared down her nose. From Birgitte's bedchamber came a splashing, as if a pitcher had been upended on the floor. Nynaeve exchanged puzzled looks with Aviendha. Birgitte reappeared with her face and hair dripping and her coat soaked from shoulders to elbows. "Now my wits are clearer," she said, settling into one of the ball-footed chairs with a sigh. "That young man has a hollow leg and a hole in the bottom of his foot. He even out-drank Beslan, and I was beginning to think wine was water to that lad."

"He'll have a hangover the size of a mountain tomorrow, don't you worry Birgitte." Nynaeve was caught with her mouth open, and both Birgitte and Elayne looked questioningly at me. Of course, they didn't know what a hangover was! "A hangover? The morning after symptoms of too much drinking. What do you call it?"

"Not that," Birgitte replied. Nynaeve hustled Thom and Juilin out, and tried to push me out but a flow of Air with Saidin picked her up and put her back in her chair. She looked about ready to pop a blood vessle and had such a tight grip on her braid I was wondered if she had cut of circulation to her fingers.

"Mat won't corrupt Beslan," Birgitte said dryly as the door closed behind the men. "I doubt nine feather dancers with a shipload of brandy could corrupt him. They wouldn't know where to begin."

Nynaeve looked relieved to hear it, told everyone Beslan wasn't the issue and Elayne added, "No, he isn't. You got drunk, Birgitte! And felt it. I still feel tipsy if I don't concentrate. The bond is not supposed to work that way. Aes Sedai don't fall over giggling if their Warders drink too much." Nynaeve threw up her hands.

"Don't look at me that way," Birgitte said. "You know more than I do. Aes Sedai and Warders have always been men and women before. Maybe that's the difference. Maybe we are too alike." Her grin was skewed slightly. There had not been near enough water in that pitcher. "That might be embarrassing, I suppose."

"If we could stay with what is important?" Nynaeve said tightly. "Such as Mat?" Elayne had her mouth open for a retort to Birgitte, but she closed it quickly, the red spots in her cheeks most definitely chagrin this time. "Now," Nynaeve went on. "Will Mat be here in the morning, or is he in the same revolting state as you?"

"He might come," Birgitte said, taking a cup of mint tea from Aviendha, who of course sat down on the floor. Elayne frowned at her a moment, then folded up her legs and sat beside her.

"What do you mean, he might?" Nynaeve demanded. She channeled, and the chair she had been sitting in floated over to her. "If he expects us to come to him on hands and knees ... !"

Birgitte took a sip of the tea with a grateful murmur, and oddly, when she looked at Nynaeve again, she did not seem so intoxicated. "I talked him out of that. I don't think he was really serious. All he wants now is an apology and thanks."

Nynaeve's eyes popped. "Never," she growled.

"For what?" Elayne wanted to know, as if that mattered. She pretended not to see Nynaeve's glare.

"The Stone of Tear," Birgitte said, and Nynaeve's head whipped around. The woman no longer sounded intoxicated at all. "He says he went into the Stone, him and Juilin, to free the pair of you from a dungeon you couldn't escape on your own." She shook her head slowly, in wonder. "I don't know that I would have done that for anyone short of Gaidal. Not the Stone. He says you gave him a backhanded thanks and made him feel he ought to be grateful you didn't kick him."

I had remained silent up to this point, it was amazing how often I was simply ignored when key conversations went on. I smiled broadly as Nynaeve went and put her foot in her mouth, "Only one of the Black sisters was on guard in the dungeon," Nynaeve muttered, "and we had taken care of her. Be'lal wasn't really interested in us, anyway, it was just to lure Rand. Moiraine may already have killed him, by then, for all we know."

"The Black Ajah." Birgitte's voice was flatter than the floor tiles. "And one of the Forsaken. Mat never mentioned them. You owe him thanks on your knees, Elayne. Both of you do. The man deserves it. And Juilin, as well."

Blood rushed to Nynaeve's face. I wanted to laugh so badly it hurt to hold it in. "I will not apologize to Matrim Cauthon, not on my deathbed."

It was time, "And why not? Because you are too proud to accept help when you need it? Have you ever considered why he went after you in the first place?" I looked at Elayne and then Nynaeve, "He had made no promise to Rand to look after you then." All the women seemed startled that I was there. "Mat overheard Lord Gabril, Rahvin, tell a man to have you killed Elayne. He was on his way to Tear before he had any idea of what to do, except that he was going to stop this man from getting to you. Have you considered what was going on in his head while he tried to figure out how to break into the Stone of Tear? I know, some of it at least. He was terrified for you three, two of you from his village and the Daughter-Heir of Andor all captured by Black Sisters." Nynaeve opened her mouth to interrupt but I didn't let her, "He fought High Lords, Defenders of the Stone, and could have been killed at any time trying to save your lives. And when he opened the cell door to set you free, what is it that you said?" I paused for a minute, my rant had gone on longer than I had intended but I wasn't going to stop now, "'What are you doing here?' As if you could have escaped on your own, sheilded. Events may gone forward and you may have gotten free eventually, but what if Liandrin and the other ten sisters Egwene didn't take care of came down and took you with them when they fled?"

"I," Elayne managed to get one word out before my glare silenced her.

"Mat saved your lives several more times that night, and you still treated him as if he ruined some great plan of yours. Birgitte is right, you owe him thanks on your knees." Nynaeve was gaping open mouthed at me, "He didn't know Bel'al was in the Stone, but he would have come for you anyways. Would you have, if your positions had been altered?"

All of them were staring open mouthed at me now, I would have gone further if I didn't think I had gotten my point across. I left them then, Nynaeve might argue more about apologizing to Mat but I was sure I had at least hammered in what they had done wrong.

**A/N: Nynaeve's ability (I say ability because it is something spectacular) to NOT see her own faults but recognize her own in others is simply incredible. Her arrogance and stubbornness could be considered legendary. I love reading from her point of view, and I don't ever think I could do her justice so I try to take her actions directly from the books, rather than butchering her amazingness with my awkward hand.**


	16. Chapter 16: The Bowl of the Winds

**A/N: Continuing to update like mad, (it is now 1:38AM) I give you the next chapter.**

I had placed a Finder on Elayne's Great Serpent Ring, so when I went into the the city I had no trouble at all finding them. The two of them were just coming out of a house, and I saw the shield that cut them off from the Source vanish. Nynaeve looked about ready to pull her braid out by the roots and was already tugging on it steadily. Elayne looked thoughtful, considering Reanne's slowing and lack of agelessness. I remembered the Kin of course, it would have been difficult to forget a group such as them. Nynaeve spotted me and pointed through the crowd towards me and Elayne started towards me with a look of determination just short of willing herself through a solid iron door. Nynaeve looked abashed, the tounge lashing I had given her last night might have been the first like it she had ever recieved.

"The Kin," she began with her head held high and her nose slightly raised, "are one of the things you should have informed us about Master Taylor."

"No, your ignorance on that matter was quite enjoyable to watch. If I had told you then the women wouldn't have," something hit the shield of air I held around myself and both Elayne and Nynaeve dropped to the ground. Whirling about with my sword drawn and in position to crack someone's skull with the hilt I cursed myself silently, why didn't I remember this happening?

A long nosed woman in an indecent dress even for Ebou Dari nearly jumped out of her skin when I turned, "I was just going to ask if they needed assistance m'Lord, my friend here," she gestured to a tall fellow that had come up with her, "has a carriage and will be able to take them to safety."

Were they Caradin's, or the Kin trying to smuggle them out of Ebou Dar? Weaving simple flows of Healing the women woke with only the memory of pain, and I helped them rise while the woman and man who still tried to convince me that I should allow them to take the women to safety were pushed aside by flows of Air. Their eyes bulged and then they turned away, walking calmly towards the carriage. A little man who thought in the confusion of the moment he could cut a purse had his hands on Nynaeve's when his trousers caught on fire. Use of the One Power was not easy to detect unless you could channel or knew what you were looking for, but pants lighting on fire with no ignition was too much evidence. The street cleared in a remarkably short time.

"I need to talk with you about several things, the Kin amoung them. But until we are in the Palace I would apreciate it if you would not demand answers here and now." The women nodded a little grogily, but before long Nynaeve was tugging at her braid again, and Elayne had the look of deep thought.

The streets of the city were not usually crowded, full but not crowded, and we made good time after word spread of two Aes Sedai and a Warder using the Power in the street. Mol Hara Square came into view and we walked across into the Palace, I saw Mat grumbling to himself on his way to the Wandering Woman and nearly laughed out loud at his predicament. Elayne noticed my expression and asked what was so funny, I shook my head and we went into the Tarisan Palace and negotiated our way through the miles of hallways to the sitting room the women shared.

When we had sat down I looked at the two of them, Birgitte and Aviendha were out and there was no one to bother us. "First," I held up a hand to forestall Nynaeve, "we will discuss the Kin because it leads into the next discussion. You will find out shortly so I don't think it will matter if I tell you now that it's the Oath Rod that gives Aes Sedai the ageless look." Nynaeve stopped tugging on her braid and Elayne sat up straight. "The properties of a Binder, a ter'angreal used to punish criminals in the Age of Legends, was to bind criminals into swearing not to commit violent crimes. An unintended effect is that it creates the ageless face when two or more oaths are bound upon one person, and another is that it cuts the life expectancy by half on a general scale."

"It what?" Elayne looked shocked, "You mean to say that the Oath Rod cuts our lives short?"

"You saw Reanne, she appears fifty or sixty right? She is much older than that and you know it. Slowing occurs around twenty-two? If she looks fifty how old is she? So now your dilemma, how do you keep the oaths without cutting Aes Sedai lives in half?"

The two of them sat there, staring into nothing while deep in thought, this went on for quite some time before Nynaeve nearly jerked her braid right out of her head, "You have a solution! I know you do so give it up!"

Elayne looked over at Nynaeve and would have tried to smooth the situation but then she turned back to me, "You said you know everything about the Power if you only wonder about it, do you know how to make ter'angreal?" Nynaeve looked abashed, but jerked her braid again and her stern expression returned.

"I do, and I have already made the first ter'angreal necessary. But," Nynaeve looked about ready to tear my hair out along with her own, "it has to be broken into two ter'angreal. I made the Binder, but I couldn't add the ageless effect of the Oath Rod so I am going to make another to do that. It won't reduce the length of life like the Oath Rod, but it does give the ageless appearance."

"Why didn't you just tell us that in the first place?" Nynaeve pointed a finger at me as if she were a judge and I a convicted criminal, "You led us along on a trail of sweets and only after you were satisfied we were eating out of your hand did you tell us what the solution was!" Her face slightly contorted in rage, enough that I knew she was trying to control herself, Saidar surrounded her. It hadn't been a very long trail, just enough to perk their interest really.

"Telling you would have been easier but by making you figure some things out on your own made it easier for you to accept. If I had told you that the Oath Rod cut your life in half and then presented you with two new ter'angreal to take it's place it would have taken half the day to explain it all. When Elayne asked if I knew how to make ter'angreal it showed that she at least understood where I was going with this, if you weren't so worried about not getting results now," I snapped my fingers for emphasis, "you would have seen it too."

"Can you make angreal and sa'angreal?" Already understanding what I had done, Elayne was focused on my knowledge of how to create ter'angreal, angreal and sa'angreal.

"He would have told us if he could!" Nynaeve really needed to find a suitable outlet for her anger

Elayne's eyes were so full of pleading, so full of the need to know that I couldn't lie, "I can teach you how to make ter'angreal and angreal, but I won't teach you how to create sa'angreal. That is something that even I won't do, and I will not teach it."

"Of course," she was too excited to be dissapointed about sa'angreal, "what can you teach me?"

"Is this your second point of discussion?" Nynaeve asked, she seemed to have regained her composure for the most part.

"It is, I imagine I could teach you just about anything Elayne but first," I wove a ward against eavesdroppers and knew that the weave Joline had been about to use to listen ran into the ward and smiled, "well then, now that there are no more listeners I can begin. Making ter'angreal isn't like putting a puzzel together." Birgitte and the others returned while we were talking and reported that nothing had changed at the renegade White Cloak's palace. I sat Aviendha down with Elayne and went over the beginnings of ter'angreal creation again.

Four days later, after some considerable throwing of fits by Elayne and Nynaeve both over the Aes Sedai not truly accepting them as full sisters and that I knew about Moghedien's attack, it came time for our little party to go to the Rahad to get the Bowl. Lan was a problem for me though, when Nynaeve told him that I was here he nearly took off my head.

"You knew! You knew and did nothing!" Dodging a raging man's attacks without the benefit of a sword to counter was difficult, mostly because I had forgotten I could stop him with the power... but I did remember eventually and held him immobile in the air.

"Of course I knew you idiot! I knew and did nothing because if I hadn't her block wouldn't have been broken, Moghedien would still be trying to kill her, and I would have had to attack one of the Forsaken in plain daylight!" We were in the middle of the courtyard, and all of the servants that were going by looked as though they dearly wanted to know what we were saying. I had shielded Nynaeve to stop her from interfering, and I had to glare at Elayne several times to keep her back. "I couldn't have made her break her block without nearly killing her anyways, it required her to surrender completely and unless I brought her to the edge of death I couldn't have done it!" Lan seemed to be a mite calmer now but I pressed on anyways, "If I had attacked Moghedien, or stopped Nynaeve from being attacked, the Spider could have gotten away or killed me and then what would happen?" Lan was about as calm as he could get now, the anger was still there but he understood what I was saying.

"You knew she would survive, I knew you knew but," his hand curled into a fist, I released him and he slumped to the ground.

"I can still take care of Moghedien, and all the Forsaken, when the time comes. But until then, and you have to believe me when I say I like this less and less each day, I just can't change some things." Lan was calm again and Mat walked around the corner, oblivious to what had just happened.

"Good morning!" I would have known if he had listened, I put a Finder on his hat. "Where are Thom and Juilin? I don't see Birgitte either, is Aviendha coming?"

Elayne cast a quick glance at Reanne, trying to decide what to say so Aes Sedai didn't loose face, "Thom and Juilin are helping Brigitte and Aviendha watch Caradin's palace, Mat." Full blown Daughter-Heir, well not full blown but dangerously close. Mat would have reprimanded her if she had tried to be snobbish.

Mat exploded and I went to the carriage the men would be traveling in. Would the Gholem be affected by my weaves? If not I had duplicated the ter'angreal Mat had in his possesion, I could weave with it on me, thankfully, and now I didn't have to use the Power to disrupt weaves that had to touch me to effect me. A few minutes later Mat climbed in after Lan and Vanin made a sly joke about women which Lan didn't approve of. With Mat grumbling the whole way and staring at the basket of food Tylin had sent him, the ride to the canals that separated the city from the Rahad was mostly uneventful.

Mat dragged Elayne away after she confronted him about Tylin, and I went over to talk to Beslan, "You should tell him you know, he's an outlander and doesn't understand the customs of Ebou Dar."

Beslan looked at me strangely for a moment, the grinned, "You mean? Oh that's why he's been so nervous! Why under the Light doesn't he know?"

I shrugged, "He's from a very reserved community, women appear to defer to men in the Two Rivers but the power resides with them whatever the men think. The situation here is completely backwards to him, you should tell him that you approve before he has a breakdown. I assume you approve, you haven't challenged him to a duel." He grinned at me and went over to stand on the second boat, Nynaeve had dragged Lan onto the first boat and I followed after.

Nynaeve tried to shove me onto the second boat with the men but I sidestepped her and caught her braid when she almost fell into the water. She was a sputtering, braid pulling, outraged woman the entire trip. I thought it was incredibly amusing until Lan came to her side and he glared at me, he looked like death personified and it made me shiver. Once we were all across Reanne led the way to the building Mat had found the day before, with several Wise Women the relatively small amount of people in the crowds treated us like the Light incarnate and we had no fear of assault. Until we got to the six-story building that was. Mat had been muttering dark curses under his breath the whole way, and Elayne had tried unsuccessfully to be near enough to catch what he was saying.

"You shouldn't be memorizing those oaths, Elayne," she turned her head elegantly to look down on me, it was a remarkable skill she had considering that I was quite a bit taller than she.

"I don't know what you're talking about Taylor," and with that, she lifted her skirts a bit more and walked up to where Nynaeve and Reanne were talking at the front. There was a faint blush on her cheeks before she turned her face away though, I chuckled dryly to myself.

"What a pleasant walk," Nalesean said dryly, "with such interesting sights and smells. Did I tell you I didn't get much sleep last night, Mat?"

"Do you want to die in bed?" Mat grumbled back at him.

Reanne stopped infront of a six story building. I wasn't close enough to hear what was said at the front of the party but I saw Elayne pat Nynaeve's arm, and then Nynaeve patted Elayne's. Mat directed four Red Arms to go around back, and Nynaeve exploded when she found out Lan had told Mat about Moghedien. She and Lan were blocking access to the stairs Elayne had gone up with Nalesean and several of the Wise Women.

Nynaeve quivered. "Don't you take that tone with me!" she shouted. "I tell you, I'm not angry! Do you hear me?"

"Blood and ashes, Nynaeve," Mat growled. "He doesn't think you're angry. I don't think you're angry." A good thing women had taught him to lie with a straight face. "Now could we go upstairs and fetch this bloody Bowl of the Winds?"

"A marvelous idea," said a woman's voice from the door to the street. "Shall we go up together and surprise Elayne?''

The Black sisters! The two remaining Wise Women nearly fell over themselves crouching in curtsies, I embraced Saidin.

"They're Black Ajah," Nynaeve managed after her mouth worked silently for a few moments. "Falion Bhoda and Ispan Shefar. They committed murder in the Tower, and worse since. They're Darkfriends, and..." Her voice faltered for a moment, "...they have me shielded." It was true, I saw the shield and the light of Saidar around the two women. Nynaeve looked at me quickly, but I waited for a moment before acting.

"Have you ever heard such nonsense, Ispan?'' the long faced Aes Sedai asked her companion, who stopped grimacing at the dust long enough to smirk at Nynaeve. "'Ispan and I come from the White Tower, while Nynaeve and her friends are rebels against the Amyrlin Seat. They'll be punished severely for that, and so will anyone who helps them." The women didn't know that myself, Mat, Lan and the others weren't just hired strongarms. Falion directed a smile at Nynaeve; it made a blizzard warm by comparison. "There's someone who will be overjoyed to see you when we take you back, Nynaeve. She thinks you are dead. Better the rest of you go now. You don't want to meddle in Aes Sedai affairs. My men will see you to the river."

"Aes Sedai, no, but Darkfriend affairs are something I enjoy tangling." Lan was about to leap at them when I spoke, the two women glanced at me and froze. Bringing a hand to my right ear I touched the tip as if to make sure it was there, "I think you should hope that person you spoke of arrives now, because, I have no love in my heart for Black Ajah."

They channeled, and their weaves were torn apart by my own. Saidin flooded me, the battle against destruction letting me know I was truly alive, three weaves formed before me and only a man who could channel would have known what I planned. A shield for Ispan, severing for Falion, and the men behind them were in for some tough times. Flinging the flows at my targets I felt an absence in the back of my mind, a type of hole I knew should have been filled by the presence of Shadowspawn had they been near enough. Ispan's eyes opened in shock, Falion's mouth opened in a silent scream, and the men they brought to take the angreal kept here were knocked unconscious.

"Don't just stand there!" I yelled at the men, "Tie them up!" I grabbed Mat by the sleeve and yanked him towards the stairs. Nalesean followed close behind and I burst up the last of the six flights of stairs as one of the women in the room screamed. The Gholam flowed back from one of the Wise Women and Elayne stared in amazement, flows vanished from around the thing and it darted for her. Embracing the Unified Power, I reacted. Not really aware of what I did, a flow of Air cracked and the Gholam looked down in suprise as it slid in half at the middle.

Elayne turned just in time to see Mat throw his spear into a man who would have stuck his sword into the Daughter-Heir and then she was channeling too. A group of men burst from an open door and I saw them holding a bag between them but it wasn't them I was worried about. The Gholam had put himself back together! Nalesean thrust his sword at him and the thing flowed around his blade, Mat was right when he said it made a Myrddraal seem stiff. Before I could wrap it in flows of Air, it reached out and ripped the Tairan's throat. Rage boiled inside of me, I couldn't stop his death! Whipcracks of Air sounded again and again, faster and faster until there was only a continuous crackling sound. The men had run down the stairs and were out of my reach, but the Gholam fell into hundreds of pieces on the ground. No blood, and two bodies lay on the ground. Nalesean, and the Wise Woman I wasn't quick enough to save. Kneeling I delved the two of the simultaniously, both dead. Two more women were on the ground but I could see their chests rising and falling, not dead thank the Light!

"He wants you dead as much as he wants her," I heard a grunt and I turned to see Mat and that bloody Gholam wrestling on the ground! It had put itself back together from what I had done to it! The fox head medallion fell out of Mat's shirt and onto the thing's face, a hissing sound and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The Gholam shreeked and threw Mat over it, and lunged for him. Whipcracks came again but only to fasten around the thing, if killing a Gholam was going to be this difficult I could get rid of it for the time being at least. Hurling it with all my strength the Gholam flew at the wall and towards the sky, erupting from the explosion of debris that came when it impacted the wall. Judging by it's velocity I estimated that it would land well outside the walls of Ebou Dar, it wouldn't die the Shadow burn for it, but it would definitely think twice before coming into the city again.

There was silence for a time, with muffled sounds coming from below I didn't think that we were needed any time soon. Nynaeve came up the stairs in a rush, and her hand flew to her mouth. "The Light shine on us," she breathed, and hurried to be beside Janira, she winced as she found what I had. "What happened here Mat?" She demanded without looking around at him. "Well, Mat? What happened? Will you speak up, man, or do I have to—" Nynaeve had moved to one of the Wise Women, when Sumeko came in with Lan and knelt beside another I thought was Reanne. However she had learned to Heal, the finger movements made her seem as if she were typing at a keyboard.

"What are you doing?" Nynaeve demanded, "Where did you learn that?"

Sumeko gave a start, but her hands did not stop. "Forgive me, Aes Sedai," she said in a breathless, disjointed rush. "I know I'm not supposed to... She'll die if I don't... I know I wasn't supposed to keep trying to... I just wanted to learn, Aes Sedai. Please."

"No, no, go on," Nynaeve said absently. Most of her attention was fixed on the woman under her hands, but not all. "You seem to know a few things even I— That is to say, you have a very interesting way with the flows. I suspect you'll find that a great many sisters want to learn from you." Half under her breath, she added, "Maybe now they'll leave me alone."

I almost laughed with delight despite the terrible scene before me, the exact same words used in the books! I had changed things but others remained the same! Still standing, I put my hand on Elayne's arm and she gave a start, "The Bowl, I think it's in there," pointing to the open door the men had come out of.

"Yes," Elayne muttered. ".Yes, I can do that much, at least." Half-raising a hand toward Vanin, who I hadn't noticed lying against the wall, we walked into the room.

A massive store room full of dust covered relics lay behind the door, I could feel the power of the ter'angreal and angreal in this room alone just by standing so close. Weaving quickly and carefully so that I didn't activate any of the ter'angreal, the dust seemed to flow together into a large ball in the middle of the floor. Weaving Fire, the ball disappeared with a flash and a little smoke I moved from the room on flows of Air. Elayne walked past me and directly to a section of the room where a large amount of junk had been piled up. Movement outside the door made me turn my head and I saw Vanin, Healed now or he wouldn't have been on his feet look in at Elayne. The Daughter-Heir was trying out curses at the difficulty of moving the possible ter'angreal about, and then cried out in excitement.

"I've found it!" Elayne shouted excitedly. She strode past me and out into the hall holding a wide round bundle of rotted cloth she would not let Vanin take from her. "We have the Bowl of the Winds, Nynaeve!"

"In that case," Mat announced, "we are bloody well getting out of here now." Nobody argued, but Elayne and Nynaeve insisted that every piece of furniture, jewelry, or anything at all that wasn't nailed down was to be taken with them back to the Palace.

**A/N: Yawn. That's it for me tonight.**


	17. Chapter 17 : Sammael

**A/N: Sammael, never liked him.**

I was laying down on the bed I was supposed to sleep on, I didn't like it so I slept on the floor and ruffled the sheets to make it look like I had slept in it. It was comfortable enough to lay down on to think though, too comfortable to sleep in. I needed some support, and this matress didn't have any. Sudden realization of what was happening right now made me bolt upright. A slash appeared in the middle of the room and objects flew to me as I dashed through. Rand was in the woods with Fain, I might have changed enough that the Aes Sedai aren't able to help him!

The fog of the neasma blanketed the large forest outside of Cairhien, men and women's screams tore at my soul as their muted cries came from within. "Rand is in there," I whispered to myself. The screams were terrible, and the awful tearing noises didn't make the screams any less horrible. I was about to go in when I saw them, a small party of people with a man holding another up.

Pulling on Saidin, I wove a gateway that opened twenty paces from the small group. A fireball raced towards the opening and I slashed it apart before stepping through, and I had to throw up a shield to stop a bolt of lightning from hitting me. Min yelled something that sounded like stop, but with all the screaming coming from within the mist I was not certain.

Cadsuane Melaidhrin stood in front of the party surrounding Rand al'Thor, Min levered herself up from kneeling beside the man she loved and walked past the Green and fell against me, "Help him, I know you can. Help him, please!" Her voice was soft, pleading. I gently pushed her away from me and walked forwards.

One of the sisters kneeling beside Rand was a yellow, Samitsu, but I didn't know which one. Both Caraline and Darlin moved to block me but flows of Air woven from Saidin pushed them aside gently. I wasn't intending to hurt anyone now, and I did not want to antagonize two powerful Houses from two powerful nations. The two sisters beside the Dragon Reborn stayed where they were even after I had knelt beside him, I pulled out each of my angreal and set them beside me. Three angreal for Saidar, and one for Saidin. Even knowing how to make angreal I hadn't bothered to yet, and I would need more of Saidar than Saidin to do this anyway. All of the Aes Sedai stiffened when I embraced Saidar through the angreal, and they already knew I had embraced Saidin. Both sisters kneeling beside Rand backed away as swiftly as possible when I began channeling the Unified Power into the wound at Rand's side where the evil of Shadar Logoth was slowly killing him.

All five parts of the Power formed such an intricate weave that if I hadn't woven I would have been lost trying to follow it, all pouring into the slash across the puckered scar Ishamael had given him. Sweating now and not caring I felt hands on my shoulders as I worked, gently massaging the stiffness I didn't know was there. The evil of Aradhol was as great as the Shadow, and it took a circle of thirteen and the most powerful sa'angreal the White Tower had to release Mat from that same evil. I pulled on as much of the Power as I could, wishing I hadn't promised not to make sa'angreal. Leaching the evil out was the most difficult part, it had a will of it's own and did not want to be taken, but after an indeterminable amount of time I had cleansed it of the evil that destroyed Aridhol. Knitting the skin together was as simple as raising a finger after that, but it seemed that the weight of the world rested on that finger and I had to lift the heavans to start.

"He did it," a voice came out of the haze I had fallen into.

"We must get them both to Cairhien," another voice I did not know.

Gently, I was lifted from my kneeling position and I felt the world come into focus a bit more. "Cadsuane," my throat felt like sand-paper, "don't tell him I Healed him, he must think it was you." I wasn't sure if she heard or not, but I was sure someone did. I saw Min's thankful face before blackness swallowed the world. The last thought I had was a question, what had I changed? 

A wet cloth was draped over my forehead and a hand was placed against my cheek. The hand felt cool, and I opened my eyes to a blinding light I knew would go away if I kept my eyelids open. A dark figure above me slowly came into focus and I saw Min's face. I didn't know why she had chosen to be a tom-boy, she was so pretty. There was a warm smile to greet me, and I heard someone else moving around the room I was in. After all that I noticed the bed, it wasn't the stiff bed I prefered but a down mattress that I sank into. I had a mattress much like this in my own world but this was much softer, so it was difficult for me to raise my head to see who else was in the room. Verin paced back and forth along the length of the carpet in the room.

"He is awake," Verin stopped pacing and her face seemed a bird of prey. I had never discovered if she actually wanted to help Rand, or if she was Black Ajah. The Brown sister went against quite a few customs of the White Tower because she felt like it, knowing the weave for and using Compulsion being the foremost ammoung them.

"Verin, how nice to see you." The bird looked decidedly angry, for an Aes Sedai. I could see the glow of Saidar around her, but if she had woven anything I couldn't see it. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to speak with Min alone." The bird was furious, and I wasn't sure exactly why. I would have understood if she was angry, but furious was a bit more than what I expected. She did leave the room though, her Aes Sedai serenity returning with each step.

Then we were alone, Min looked as though she wanted nothing more than to be gone from the room, to be at Rand's side when he woke, but she found a reason within herself and stood stock still for a moment before speaking, "You saved his life," her voice was calm and steady but I knew it took all her self control to do it, "and for that I can never repay you. Rand told me about you and asked me to tell me what he saw the next time I was around, he told me you knew about what I can do." It was a good thing I had warded the room, Verin must be trying to listen in.

I nodded, Min saw pieces of the Pattern that have been and will be, usually around those who can channel and Warders as well. When she knew what one of the images or auras mean they always happen, no matter if it seems impossible, it has to happen. "So what do you see around me?"

Min didn't answer at first, she just stared around me, at the images only she could see. The room behind her wasn't large but it was well furbished with displays of artwork, statues, and tapestries that depicted great events in history. Vibrant colors erupted from vases and ragged looking flowers were arranged to show the best side of them whatever condition the plants had fallen to. "A hand," her voice jerked me out of my study of the room, "I see a hand and you are the hand. The hand of what I don't know, but you were destined for greatness before you were born. I see a doorway to another place that shut behind you, it doesn't make sense because I don't think it has anything to do with a choice. It has more to do with time, wherever it was that the doorway came from you can't go back." I couldn't go home. My family, my life, all of that was gone forever? "A sword of flame that cuts the darkness apart, a man you lift from the ground, a woman that brings you back from the dead. I see you falling into an abyss, and I see a scene moving backwards while you stand still." She closed her eyes tightly, shutting out what she saw. She turned away and ran from the room. Had she understood any of it?

Cadsuane entered half a second after Min left, "How long have I been asleep?"

"You collapsed and I had Darlin go to the road and get a wagon. I lifted you and Darlin took Rand, he wasn't well even after you Healed the dagger wound. The Asha'man, Flinn, did something to seal the evil of the first wound. Samitsu has been closeted away with him for the past two days and the boy hasn't woken since." She seemed startled to have said so much, was I ta'veren? Two days, he's going to wake this afternoon and go after Sammael in Illian then. I lifted myself up from the bed and wished that I hadn't been undressed. "I thank you for your concern Cadsuane, I apreciate it."

"What are you doing boy?"

I didn't answer her question, getting up I found that I wasn't completely naked but the closest thing to it. I only felt a little self conscious with the legendary Green watching me dress, some of my clothes were in a drawer and the rest of my clothes were in a wardrobe that was far too big to hold my small amount of clothes. Shirt, pants, black coat, and boots flew on and I was ready. Cadsuane was gone before I was done.

The hallways were unusually empty, I wasn't far from Rand's quarters, just a twist in the hallway and a right turn past magical tapestries and displays of wealth that would make most farmers die of shock and I was there. A large group of Maidens stood outside the doors, several looking as though they were ready to veil and kill whatever moved in the hallways. I didn't know any of them, each was nearly as tall as I with only a few exceptions and all of them could probably kill me before I knew I was in danger. I was good, but not good enough to fight off that many Aiel. Two had placed themselves on oposite sides of the doors to Rand's apartments, and I walked towards them slowly. I was noticed as soon as I came around the corner but my intention to enter was going to be a point of confrontation I couldn't be bothered with.

"I must speak with the Car'a'carn," my voice was calm, something I was becoming good at lately, "I won't be stopped." Several of the Maidens looked ready to 'dance the spears' with me, even knowing that I was stronger in the One Power than the Car'a'carn himself. I embraced Saidin, and still continuing forward I walked past the first few without any trouble. There must have been fifty Far Dareis Mai standing guard when before there had only been two, and none of them tried to stop me. Cadsuane hadn't told them I had saved Rand's life, and hopefully Min wouldn't either, but if Rand asked her to the fool girl would try to kill me just because he asked. Love was something I was getting used to, but when Moiraine first told me she loved me I would have used the Choeden Kal to destroy the world to have her. I could use both, focus both into the Unified Power so that even the Dark One would quail before me, but if Rand asked me to help him cleanse the Taint on Saidin I would refuse. Nynaeve had to do it with him, I could help protect them while they worked, but Nynaeve had to be the one to link with him.

The two Maidens on either side of the door dropped their spears in an 'x' to bar my way, I stopped and looked at both of them dispassionately. One was old, probably one of the oldest Maidens here, the other was younger than Rand but looked as if she was protecting a child from violence. I couldn't remember their names but I could guess who these were, the older treated Rand like a long lost brother and the younger treated him like her son. "Let me by, I can force my way in but it would be better if you let me by on your own."

The younger looked ready to veil, stiff as a nail she looked about ready to attack me without veiling at all. The older raised her spear and the younger followed suit a moment later but she glared so menacingly at me when I pushed open the doors that if I didn't know better I would have thought daggers should have been flying from her eyes. The sitting room was empty, but I heard voices in the bed chamber.

"Phaw!" It could only have been Cadsuane who muttered behind the doors. She must have almost run to beat me here. "I vow, I should smack the stubborn boy's bottom."

Someone else said something, I was sure it was the comment that he had too pretty of a bottom to smack, so I waited until I was pretty sure he was at least partly clothed before going in.

As I opened the door Rand spoke, "I need to talk with Dashiva and the other Asha'man. Alone."

All eyes swung to me, Samitsu's glare turned to thoughtful speculation when she saw who I was. "I'll need to be here as well," my voice was the emotionless tone of the void, I had nearly forgotten I still battled with Saidin. Releasing it I saw Flinn and Dashiva relax partially.

Min had hurried to Rand's side and whispered something to him, the two Aes Sedai who had sworn fealty to him curstied and began leaving the room but waited when Amys planted herself firmly to speak, "So long as you do not intend to leave these rooms." It was an order, not a request, and she left with the Aes Sedai trailing on her skirts when Rand told her he was not intending to leave. Cadsuane left a moment later after giving me a significant look that promised a discussion I may or may not like, and then everyone who should be was here.

"I'll join you in the anteroom as soon as I'm booted, Dashiva." Straight out of the book, could I really change anything except for what I did directly?

"As you command, my Lord Dragon," pressing fist to heart, he and the three others left the room.

Min and Rand ignored me as if I wasn't there, Min knelt beside Rand's chair as he sat to put on stockings. Stockings were more like panty-hose from my perspective, I was glad I had the wooden ter'angreal that kept me at a comfortable temperature no matter the weather so I could only wear what I thought was reasonable. "Are you sure this is wise?" Min sounded worried, as she should with the look of determination on Rand's face.

"Did you have a viewing?"

Min tried to be firm with a look but it failed so she sighed, "It's Cadsuane. She is going to teach you something, you and the Asha'man. All the Asha'man, I mean. It's something you have to learn, but I don't know what it is, except that none of you will like learning it from her. You aren't going to like it at all."

A cough from me reminded them of my presence, from the start Min gave she seemed to have forgotten I had existed. Rand didn't seem to have forgotten me though, "What will Cadsuane teach us Taylor?"

Should I tell him? "Min is right, you're not going to like it." Total avoidance of the question, I saw his jaw firm for a moment but unless he used Callandor or the Choeden Kal I was stronger than him by far and he knew it. I had never used the sword when he was around, I knew of a one handed style but I might be around for him to avoid that little mishap as well, and if I had he would probably have insisted that I teach him the forms I knew. As it was he accepted that I wasn't going to tell him what Cadsuane was going to teach him. "I hope you realize what you're getting into by ignoring her like this, Cadsuane has about as much respect for all your vaunted titles as she does for a Novice throwing a temper tantrum. You won't be able to impress her, you'll just have to live with her."

"So you know what she's going to teach me, and you know I'm going to let her," his expression was considering, then it turned to granite, "but not now. Sammael is now, I suppose you know my intentions?"

Nodding, I walked to the door that led to the anteroom. "I'm changing something today," I told him, "I'll even tell you what I did after we're done. I hope you feel grateful after I finish explaining the severity of what I've done, I might just change more than I intend but I don't think what I plan on doing is wrong."

"Thank you." His voice was cold, in the void, but he was sincere. I heard him rise behind me. "What bargain did Merana make for me?" he asked, and Min made an exasperated sound in her throat.

"None, as of this morning," she said impatiently. "She and Rafela haven't left the ship since we did, but they've sent half a dozen messages asking if you're well enough to return. I don't think the bargaining has gone well for them without you."

"It's gone badly," I said in a half whisper that neither of them heard, "and I think it's a good thing that it has."

In the anteroom, all the Asha'man except Dashiva sprang out of their chairs when Rand appeared with Min. Staring at nothing and talking to himself, Dashiva did not notice until Rand reached the Rising Sun set in the floor, and then he blinked several times before rising.

Rand addressed himself to Adley while fastening the Dragon-shaped buckle of his sword belt. "The army's reached the hillforts in Illian already?'' Rand looked as though wanted to take one of the gilded armchairs, but would not let himself. "How? It should have been several more days at the best. At best." Flinn and Narishma looked as startled as Dashiva; Rand had told none of them where Adley and Hopwil had gone, or Morr. Deciding who to trust was always the difficult.

Adley drew himself up. There was something about his eyes, beneath those thick eyebrows. He had seen the wolf, as they said in Cairhien. "The High Lord Weiramon left the foot behind and pressed forward with the horse," he said, reporting stiffly. "The Aiel kept up, of course." He frowned. "We encountered Aiel yesterday. Shaido; I don't know how they got there. There were maybe nine or ten thousand, altogether, but they didn't seem to have any Wise Ones who could channel with them, and they didn't really slow us down. We reached the hillforts at noon today."

Rand looked ready to snarl in fury, I was saddened by the news of the Shaido. I read about them, the man who showed such public affection for his wife. "The Gai'shain from them, where are they being held?"

Adley looked startled I had spoken, all of them appeared startled but Rand gestured for Adley to respond. "The Shaido Gai'shain are being held by the Reyn Aiel."

I nodded, "After this is done I would like to see the Gai'shain that were taken in that battle, do you know if the sept chief was taken?" Adley nodded afirmation and a tension in my shoulders was released. "Sammael split the Shaido apart, he told them he had Traveling Boxes they could use to travel all over the world. What he did was just open gateways to different parts of the world to spread chaos and disorder, with most of the world believing that you control the Aiel it will only strengthen countries resolve to fight against you with the Shaido causing trouble. I know of the sept chief and his wife, of the Moshaine Shaido. He was planning on going to Rhuidean to become clan chief."

I knew my expression was a sad one, the Asha'man didn't understand and I didn't expect them to but Min seemed about to comfort me before Adley continued with his report. "Eben and I began destroying the first palisades soon as we arrived. Weiramon didn't much like that; I think he would have stopped us, but he was afraid to. Anyway, we began setting fire to the logs and blowing holes in the walls, but before we more than started, Sammael came. A man channeling Saidin, at least, and a lot stronger than Eben or me. As strong as you, my Lord Dragon, I'd say."

"He was there right away?" Rand said incredulously, then after a pause he continued, "Go on," he said. "Morr was with you last night?"

"Yes, my Lord Dragon; Fedwin comes every night, just like he's supposed to. Last night, it was plain as Eben's nose we'd reach the forts today."

"I don't understand any of this." Dashiva sounded upset; a muscle in his cheek was twitching. "You've lured him out, but to what purpose? As soon as he feels a man channel with anything near your strength, he'll flee back to Illian and whatever traps and alarms he has woven. You won't get at him there; he will know as soon as a gateway opens within a mile of the city."

"We can save the army," Adley burst out, "that's what we can do. Weiramon was still sending charges against that fort when I left, and Sammael cuts every one to rags despite anything Eben or I can do.'' He shifted the arm with the singed sleeve. "We have to strike back and run immediately, and even so, he nearly burned us where we stood, more than once. The Aiel are taking casualties too. They're only fighting the Illianers who come out, the other hillforts must be emptying, so many were coming when I left, but any time Sammael sees fifty of us together, Aiel or anybody, he rips them apart. If there were three of him, or even two, I'm not sure I'd find anybody alive when I go back.'' Dashiva stared at him as if at a madman, and Adley shrugged suddenly, as though feeling the lightness of his bare black collar compared with the sword and Dragon on the older man's. "Forgive me, Asha'man," he muttered, abashed, then added in a still lower voice, "But we can at least save them."

Sammael would most certainly run at the first possibility that Rand was there, and if he knew about me he would flee as fast as he could, but I knew as well as Rand that the Forsaken wouldn't abandon what he considered his even if it meant loosing.

"We will," Rand assured him. "You're all going to help me kill Sammael today." Only Dashiva looked startled. Min looked resigned and sighed, I had said that was what Rand was going to do but she must have hoped he had a different plan. "The Maidens will want to come if they know, Min." They would want to, and Rand would be hard-pressed to refuse. If he could refuse, he had promised to let them die for him.

Min sighed again. ' 'I suppose I could go talk to Nandera. I might be able to keep them out in the hallway for an hour, but they won't be pleased with me when they find out." Rand looked as though he wanted to laugh, but whatever Flinn and I had done it didn't seem to have taken the pain away. "More to the point, farmboy, Amys won't be pleased. Or Sorilea. The things I let you get me into." Rand looked about to protest, but she drew close to him and whatever she said, I knew it had something to do with Cadsuane and paddling him if he got hurt, was too soft to hear.

From my point of view all I saw was her back, when she was done she went for the door. Casting a quick glance at her retreating form I wondered what she would think of Skinnies? Rand had glanced at Dashiva and he put up his hands defensively, and then leapt back as a gateway opened right beside him. Jealousy, I had never had to worry about another man being interested in Moiraine yet, the Eelfinn weren't interested in humans for anything but sensations. Seizing Saidin I opened my own gateway and Rand looked at me questioningly, "I'll meet you, I have something to take care of first." He nodded and led the four Asha'man through the portal to Bashere's camp in Caemlyn.

My own portal opened to Shadar Logoth, fortunately a Trolloc fell in half as it opened. I had expected to find Shadowspawn in the dead city, but not this quickly. Fire blossomed from the Myrddraal that flowed towards the open gateway and I stepped through with my sword swinging to remove the hand of another Trolloc that hadn't been sliced in half by the gateway. A howl told me I had suceeded but the void only let satisfaction skitter along the edge before I was cutting three more Trollocs apart before they could get any semblance of defence prepared for my attack. The sun was still up, Mashadar hadn't come above ground, but that wouldn't last long. Screams of rage and pain were all the sound I heard, the ring of steel on cuendillar the only music. I danced the forms of an Age forgotten and Shadowspawn died.

I had destroyed at least eighty Trollocs with the Power or sword by the time I felt a gateway open somewhere in the city, the sun was a red sliver on the horizon. Moments later I felt another being woven and I ran in the direction of the second. It wasn't very far from where I was, but it would be difficult to find Rand in this city without feeling him channel. Sammael channeled and an explosion errupted a few streets ahead where Rand had come from. He was out of harms way by now but he would run into Trollocs and then fall through the floor of the abandoned building and be saved by Moridin.

"Liah!" I heard Rand call out to the Maiden still here after he abandoned her in the city, I could save her if I found her before Mashadar did. Rand was running away from me, hobbling actually if I remembered correctly. He would run into Trollocs when he ran after the woman. A lightning bolt split the sky, errupting where Rand had used the Power to summon the sword of fire he had used after Ishamael destroyed his father's sword. Only a street ahead of me, and I saw the building Rand was going to be rescued by Moridin in. Mashadar flowed from the building on the far side of the street, heading towards where Rand was. Light!

Running as fast as I could I saw Moridin reach down and pull Rand from the pit he had fallen in. "Rand!" Moridin jerked when he saw me, the saa flashed across his eyes and I felt him touch the True Power. Supposedly only the one using the Power given by the Dark Lord could sense the True Power but I felt the world scream as he filled himself with it. I could sense how strong he was, feel the evil in him so that it made me want to vomit, but I was stronger. Mashadar came then and all thoughts of capturing the man fled from my mind, aparently he decided I wasn't worth dying for either and balefire erupted from his hand directed at the tendrils of Mashadar. I threw a shield at Rand and dragged him to my side, he was not going to get the sickness! Balefire erupted from my own hand, and I was extremely cautious that the bars of liquid white fire from the two of us did not come into contact with each other. Tendrils of Mashadar evaporated when it came into contact with the liquid bars of flame, and then it was gone. Weaving a shield I did not know I knew, I threw it at Moridin just as he threw a shield of the True Power at me. His hit first but rebounded, mine snapped shut around him and his eyes popped open in absolute horror.

Rand jabbed me in the ribs with a fist and I let the shield around him go, Moridin stood still but he had mastered his terror now. I walked over to the resurected Forsaken and whispered quietly into his ear, "Ishamael, your master made a mistake bringing you back." He shivered, it was all he could do after I had wrapped him in Air flows of the Unified Power. "I won't kill you now, but I will take Moghedien and Cyndane's cour'souvra." Reaching into his coat, I pulled out the two pieces of jewlry that held the souls of two of the Forsaken. "I wonder how you will be able to explain this? Will you still be named Nae'blis Moridin?" He flinched at the use of his new name, I chuckled before releasing him and slipping the two cour'souvra into my own coat. Wrapping them in the same shield Rand would use to survive Dashiva's attack at Cairhien, I knew they would be safe until I pulled them out.

Moridin backed away slowly, then ran as fast as his legs would carry him. "Who was he?" Rand asked, he was limping badly and I could tell from how he crouched that his side was fiery agony.

"One of the Forsaken," before Rand could say anything I held up a hand, "he saved your life. He would have helped you clear Mashadar from the building as well so I believe he deserved to be released this time."

"He was still one of the Forsaken, you had him shielded somehow why didn't you kill him? Why didn't you capture him at least?" He had valid points, but Moridin was going to save Rand's life and I couldn't ignore that whatever his intentions. But most of all, Moridin wasn't captured here. I couldn't change that even if I wanted to rip the man's heart out.

"There is another Forsaken in the city, I suggest we focus on him." Rand followed my lead. "He's gone to the Waygate, and there's probably enough traps around the square to kill anyone who comes within sight of him from the ground."

"The buildings then? What about Mashadar?"

"There's a tower nearby the square, we'll be able to see him from there and he won't know that we're there until it's too late." We moved along the streets as best as we could. Rand had an arm over my shoulder and was leaning heavily on me, "I'd Heal you but Sammael would feel it, as soon as he's dead I'll take care of your injuries." Rather than speaking Rand nodded, he had managed to regain the void and he wouldn't get the sickness now. Hopefully I could keep things on track even with the change.

Well short of the square that Sammael had gone to, I saw the Tower Rand had used in the books and we started hobbling towards it. The stairs made Rand groan with effort, even in the void he was in pain but we had to get to the top quickly or Liah would die. "Sammael is mine," Rand growled after we reached the top, "take care of anything else."

"As long as you remember that, only Sammael matters here." He nodded, and I scanned the rubble around the square for Liah.

"There he is," Rand's voice was deathly quiet, I didn't look to see where the man was. Liah had appeared on a pile of rubble and Mashadar was climbing behind her.

"Now!" I hissed, and balefire erupted from Rand's hand. Flows of Air flew from my fingers and wrapped around the Maiden even as a tendril of Mashadar was going to grab ahold of her. Lifting her from the pile, a little more roughly than I intended, I brought her towards the tower we were in. Where Sammael had been there was only a blanket of Mashadar, Rand's face was contorted in fury so I assumed that the evil of Shadar Logoth had killed the Forsaken before his balefire could kill him.

"Liah!" His strangled yell nearly made me drop the Maiden, "You found her Taylor! You found her!"

"You can erase her from your list now. I will be able to Heal the damage Shadar Logoth has done to her soul, but you will have to find the power to forgive yourself for leaving her here." Whether or not he heard me, he stared at Liah. Liah of the Cosaida Chareen no longer belonged on the list of women who had died for him.

The Maiden was struggling fiercly against the bonds I had wrapped her in, I expected it so her whole body was wrapped in Air rather than just under her arms. When she saw the two of us her struggling doubled and I worried that she might break a bone from her efforts. A weave entered her mind and gently touched a part of her brain. She slumped and was asleep before I layed her down on the floor of the tower.

"You can Heal her?" Rand's voice was quiet, he had knelt beside her and was stroaking the side of her face.

"I can Heal her," I repeated, "but you have to forgive yourself, Rand. You did your best to find her, and now we have. You have to forgive yourself." It didn't seem like he was listening, I hoped he had listened. If not I would remind him until he told me to stop. Skimming would take longer than waiting until we knew where we were long enough to Travel so I didn't bother opening a gateway for Skimming. Rand knelt beside Liah the whole time, her dirty face was clean by the time I had made a gateway to Illian.

I had Healed Rand with Saidin, the wounds he suffered from were Healed easier with the male half, and he carried Liah through the portal. Bashere and the four Asha'man were waiting for him and were suprised when I stepped out after him. I had opened the gateway in the King's Palace, in the throne room, and I saw the eight men of the Council of Nine.

"I take it Sammael is dead," Bashere said, looking him up and down in his ragged coat and dust.

"He's dead," Rand said. Dashiva sighed loudly with relief.

"The city is ours," Bashere went on. "Or I should say, yours." He laughed suddenly. "The fighting stopped quick enough once the right people found out it was you. Not much to it, in the end." Dried blood made a black stain down one torn sleeve of his coat. ' 'The Council has been waiting eagerly for you to come back. Anxiously, you might say," he added with a wry grin.

Eight sweating men had been standing at the far end of the throne room since Rand came in. They wore dark silk coats with gold or silver embroidery on the lapels and sleeves, and falls of lace at their throats and wrists. Some wore a beard that left the upper lip shaved clean, but every one had a broad sash of green silk

slanted across his chest, with nine golden bees marching up it.

At Bashere's gesture they came forward, bowing to Rand at about every third step, for all the world as though he wore the finest garments sewn. A tall man seemed to be the leader, a round-faced fellow with one of those beards, with a natural dignity that appeared strained by worry. "My Lord Dragon," he said, bowing again and pressing both hands to his heart. "Forgive me, but Lord Brend do be nowhere to be found, and—"

"He won't be," Rand said flatly.

A muscle in the man's face jumped at Rand's tone, and he swallowed. "As you do say, my Lord Dragon," he murmured. "I do be Lord Gregorin den Lushenos, my Lord Dragon. In Lord Brend's absence, I do speak for the Council of Nine. We do offer you..." A hand at his side waved vigorously at a shorter, beardless man, who stepped forward bearing a cushion draped with a length of green silk. "... we do offer you Illian." The shorter man whipped the cloth away, revealing a heavy gold circlet, two inches wide, of laurel leaves. "The city do be yours, of course," Gregorin went on anxiously. "We did put an end to all resistance. We do offer you the crown, and the throne, and all of Illian."

After a moment of staring at the crown Rand spoke, "Why? Is Mattin Stepaneos so willing to give up his throne?"

"King Mattin did disappear two days ago," Gregorin said. "Some of us do fear... We do fear Lord Brend may have something to with it. Brend does have..." He stopped to swallow. "Brend did have a great deal of influence with the king, some might say too much, but he did be distracted in recent months, and Mattin had begun to reassert himself." It was going exactly as it had in the books! Nothing had changed about this conversation, not even with me right here! Mattin Sepaneos was on his way to the White Tower, was Rand going to give the crown to him when he learned the king of Illian still lived?

Strips of grimy coatsleeve and pieces of shirtsleeve dangled as Rand reached to pick up the Laurel Crown. The Dragon wound around his forearm glittered in the lamplight as brightly as the golden crown. He turned it in his hands. "You still haven't said why. Because I conquered you?"

"That do be part," Gregorin said dryly. "Even so, we might have chosen one of our own; kings have come from the Council before. But the grain you did order sent from Tear has your name on every lip with the Light. Without that, many would be dead of starvation. Brend did see every stick of bread go to the army."

Rand pulled his hand back and sucked on a pricked finger, with all the other pains he was enduring it was a wonder he even noticed being pricked. With both hands he picked up the crown and set it gently on his head, the swords hidden in the laurel leaves let every man who wore it know he could not take his responsibility lightly.

Gregorin bowed smoothly. "The Light illumine Rand al'Thor, King of Illian," he intoned, and the seven other lords bowed with him, murmuring, "The Light illumine Rand al'Thor, King of Illian."

Bashere contented himself with a bow of his head—he was uncle to a queen, after all—but Dashiva cried out, "All hail Rand al'Thor, King of the World!" Flinn and the other Asha'man took it up.

"All hail Rand al'Thor, King of the World!"

"All hail the King of the World!"

King of the World? He might be yet, but not from what I knew.  
****

A/N: For those of you worried about Fain's attack, don't worry. Taylor wasn't able to fully get rid of the evil and the wound remains. He thinks he got it all but he didn't.


	18. Chapter 18 : Healing

**A/N: Just basically a filler chapter, nothing too interesting that happens here.**

Rand had things to do, and nothing was going to happen in Illian for at least fifteen days so I decided to go back to Cairhien after getting the location of the Shaido Aiel that had been made Gai'shain the next day. A gateway opening in the middle of the air outside of the city caused some considerable excitement, many knew that the Dragon Reborn could make holes in the air and before I had even stepped through with Liah there was a small crowd gathered.

"Take her with you," Rand had said when I told him I was leaving. There was only one 'her' he could have meant. "If she can be Healed I will come see her, but if not you will tell me?"

"I will Heal her, I can save her now so find the time to forgive yourself."

"You've told me that at least a dozen times," he said it with a smile but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm beginning to think you believe me deaf."

"I'll remind you a hundred more times until you do it Rand al'Thor, I'll make you beg me to stop before I let you blame yourself for this." He didn't think that was funny.

Cries for the Lord Dragon came from the crowd when I stepped out, the line of people trying to get into the city left the line unless they had wagons or carts to see what was going on. Shaking my head in disgust I let the gateway snap shut, the press of the crowd started to push me into the people behind so I channeled Air to make a bubble around me to breathe in. Changing the weave, it turned into a wedge and when I walked forwards it pushed the crowd apart. Very quickly those being pushed out of the way realized the Power was being used and started backing up on their own and a path cleared ahead of me without the benefit of the wedge of Air. A straight path to the city gates opened, even through the line and the guards didn't bother to stop me. Liah lay in my arms, still unconscious. I had tried waking her twice but each time she nearly tore her limbs off trying to escape, I would have to remove the taint of Shadar Logoth while she slept.

Aiel in the streets recognized that I held a Maiden and several men tried to take her from me, the barrier of Air kept them from getting close enough to touch either of us and they knew as soon as they touched the invisible shield that the One Power was involved. Maidens saw the procession of Aiel following a man carrying a woman and came to investigate and before long half the Aiel in the city were following me to the the gate that led to the Aiel camp outside the walls. I hadn't thought to take her there until I had stepped into the crowd and by then it was too late to change my mind so going through the city was the quickest way to go. To anyone watching from above it might look like a procession or an army, depending on what you knew of the situation. A large group of Maidens trotted ahead of me with their veils up and the streets cleared remarkably fast when the city folk saw veiled Aiel walking towards them.

Wise Ones ran from the camp as soon as I left the city and shortly after most of the Aiel in and around Cairhrien were gathered round to see what was going on. Amys and Sorelia pushed their way through the press of bodies to me and there were murmers when they stopped at the barrier or Air I had set up.

"Who is she?" Sorelia asked, her name was called from the crowd and then another voice told what happened to her. The Maidens that went with Rand to Shadar Logoth cried out in joy at her return, but it was obvious that there was something wrong with her. Within minutes of Sorelia deciding to take charge, the Aiel were dispersed and back to where they belonged. Promises to let them all know what happened to her made the men leave but the Maidens wouldn't budge until Sorelia threatened to kill Liah herself unless they left.

Amys led me to her own tent, understanding the severity of the situation after I explained a little of the situation to her. "You can Heal her?"

"I can, but I will need time to prepare. The taint of Shadar Logoth has had long to corrupt her soul, if I miss even a speck it could kill her eventually." Amys nodded gravely, then left the tent. I heard her shouting for Wise Ones to guard the entrance of the tent until I was finished.

Delving the Maiden, I found the taint in her and then changed my weaving to prepare her body for the stress I was going to put on it. Time flew by, the Unified Power filled me near to overflowing and I needed every scrap I could draw on. The evil of Shadar Logoth wasn't trying to kill her like it was Rand so it was considerably easier to stop it's progress and contain it, which was the hardest part of removing it, and then I pulled the contained evil out of her body bit by bit. Completely oblivious of my own body, my whole focus was on the evil being drawn from Liah's body and soul. Slowly, ever so slowly the last particle of evil was drawn from her and I banished it from existance. The Power still filled me, and I let it drain away slowly. Saidin and Saidar flowed from me until I held neither, the sense of being complete vanished and I sagged in exhaustion. I was using too much of the Power too often and my body was paying for it, chuckling to myself I remembered when I was sure I couldn't grow tired from using the Power. I pushed myself unsteadily to my feet and opened the tent flaps. The sun had just risen when I arrived, it was past noon now.

"I've done all I can, she'll need rest and food to recover but she'll be fine." The two Wise Ones that were guarding the tent smiled warmly, and a Maiden nearby jumped into the air kicking one leg over her head and cried out that Liah was well again.

I wasn't interested in being congratulated so I made a gateway in the tent and walked through to the room I had woken up in the previous day. It was empty, blessedly empty of people crying out for the Dragon Reborn. Silence was welcoming and I fell into my bed with a sigh. Liah was going to be alright, I had delved her to the best of my ability after the last of the evil had been removed and I didn't find any traces. I would check her in a few days just to be sure, but she was going to be alright. Her recovery would be much faster than Mat's was after he was seperated from the dagger, all the energy used for the removal had come from the Power so unless she had been starving in the city she would be able to get up tomorrow.

I was exhausted, I hadn't slept since waking the day before and now I was so tired I barely remembered to take off my boots before the blankets over me. Sleep came immediately but it wasn't dreams that I found, well, Tel'aran'rhiod wasn't the dream I was looking for anyway.

I woke in the Heart of the Stone, looking around me I wondered why I had come here when I knew being in Tel'aran'rhiod wasn't a good way to bo about getting sleep. The massive structure still made me goggle, I hadn't come to the world of dreams since the night I left Egwene. Not because I was scared of this place, well maybe a little, but more because I just didn't want to get caught up in all the crap that went on here. 'Hopping' to behind the columns, I decided to wait around and see who came here. I wasn't really expecting anyone, not really, but I wasn't terribly suprised when several Aes Sedai appeared. Obviously from Salidar, the Tower Aes Sedai didn't have the ter'angreal to come to Tel'aran'rhiod.

"Telling you Sheriam doesn't have as strong a hold on that girl as we thought," the sisters were talking about controlling Egwene, I had considered going to see her for no better reason than to spook her. I had thought about what I would do to avoid capture, and had considered the creation of an angreal specifically tuned to my own use of the Source. It was fesable, I assumed that with the Dark One's blessing one of the Forsaken could make an angreal to increase the amount of the True Power they could hold, unless it worked completely backwards from Saidin and Saidar.

"It doesn't matter, if we keep going like this the army is going to fall apart and the sisters will rebel. I don't know how we're to keep our," they vanished. Going from place to place to keep their conversation as private as it was possible to do here when so many used it. I wondered what they were going to do about the army. Whatever their plans, I had several days to kill and no plans. Relaxation was something I was allowed, and I intended to use what I had.

Stepping out of the dream and into regular sleep, I waited peacefully until I woke. Thoughts skittered across the borders of my conscious mind as I watched my dreams, when I first came here I needed almost no sleep. A few hours rest and I was as good as new, but now it seemed I needed the same as everyone else. Was it because I was using more and more of the Power on a regular basis? Or was it because I had become something less than what I was when I first came? Or was I more?

The sound of boots on the tile floor at the entrance of the room woke me and I saw a little man I knew immediately. Embracing Saidar I wrapped the man in flows of Air, squeezing him tight so that he couldn't reverse the knife he had to kill himself. Another Gray Man? I moved around enough that it was unlikely anyone knew where I was supposed to be, was I the intended target? Was Moiraine? Anger boiled inside of me and the man squeeked as the breathe was crushed from his lungs, I recognized what I was doing and loosed the man to fall on his face. The dagger hung in the air above him, and I picked him up with Air again.

A Souless, I was going to be able to question a Gray Man! Before I could even open my mouth, he snapped his head back so violently I knew he would die even before I heard his neck break. Rage replaced the calm and I wove quick flows around him, Air, Fire, Water, and he imploded into nothing. Wherever I had sent him, and I wasn't even sure when I wondered about it, it was far from here. Still holding Saidar, I could hear footsteps approaching from the sitting room. There were three people coming, and one of them was holding Saidar.

"He's awake," Min's voice made me sag against the wall with relief. If she was there I wouldn't have to worry about defending myself against an attack. I had certainly brought enough attention to myself in the past few days. "He better have news." Rand hadn't come back, and she needed to know what was happening.

"Taylor said nothing of Rand, Min, the Wise Ones said he only brought the Maiden and Healed her." I didn't know that voice, but it sounded confident enough to be a Wise One or an Aes Sedai.

Just as I thought, Min and an Aes Sedai came into the room. Quickly glancing at the Aes Sedai I saw her jump with suprise when she saw I held the Power and there wasn't another Aes Sedai in the room. Plump, old, and in a brown dress, I identified her immediately by the ink stain on her nose she didn't seem to notice. Verin Mathwin, who had not made a serious mistake for seventy-one years, had made a large one by coming to see me. Maybe not serious, but certainly a large one. I had met her before, so I released Saidar and the world dimmed.

"Is Rand alright? What happened with Sammael?" Min seemed ready to explode with impatience.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I had to be calm around Verin, I thought about what I could say, "Rand and I saw Sammael die in Shadar Logoth, Mashadar killed him." Min relaxed visibly, today was a day for relaxing with good news. "The Council of Nine, eight now that Sammael is dead, presented him with the Laurel Crown. He's renamed it the Crown of Swords like in the Prophecies of the Dragon and thought he had been very clever. He'll probably send an Asha'man with a note soon enough, but I can fill you in on what's happened and is going to happen."

"That would be nice," Verin mused as if no one was there, "I wonder if you knew the Seanchan had taken Ebou Dar?"

"I wasn't there when it happened, but I knew. They came shortly after Elayne and Nynaeve used the Bowl of the Winds to correct the weather." Verin forgot to keep up her lost look and she really did look like a sparrow studying a worm. "I couldn't do anything for Ebou Dar so I came to Cairhien to help Rand."

Verin studied me very carefully, then her lost expression returned and she acted as if I didn't exist. Min was worried again though, "Elayne and Aviendha were in Ebou Dar! What happened?"

"They got away," at least I was pretty sure they got away, I could check but...

"Come on Min, I'm sure Taylor would like to rest now." The sparrow took Min by the shoulders and walked her out of the bedroom.


	19. Chapter 19 : Rebels

**A/N: This is a really long chapter that I couldn't break up because it would have bugged me. There's some pointless stuff that happens and an interesting revelation about the purpose of Taylor's presence.**

I decided that not doing anything for the next two and a half weeks was a delightful idea. Nothing terribly important was going to happen until the Feast of Abram, eighteen days from when I met with Min and Verin. During that time I changed the compulsion on the sisters in the Aiel camps from Verin's terribly damaging weaves to my own, spent a large amount of time with the Aeil, and did some soul searching. Not really soul searching but some wondering into what exactly I was. Kel 'Aridavin Deshuvekil, I had named myself when Lanfear asked. Kel 'Aridavin the statue had named me, but what exactly was the Hand of the Creator? My body was twice as strong as even the Aiel, I was able to run at full tilt all day without growing tired as long as I hadn't done any large scale Weaving. My reflexes were hard to calculate without a stopwatch but I could snatch anything out of the air that Min threw at me. Daggers, cups, and jewelry when she was especially mad at me for not telling her what was going to happen between her Rand and the other two women he loved.

Most importantly of all, I was begining to understand why I was here in the first place. If I was right, I came into this world about the same time that Shaidar Haran, the Hand of the Great Lord of the Dark, was created. Balance perhaps? Hand of the Dark One and Hand of the Creator both brought into the world to counter the other? I wasn't sure but I could swear that I felt a counter-weight to my activities whenever I was medling in the Pattern. Was it possible that I was supposed to be here? Shaidar Haran certainly took control of the Forsaken and got them working towards a common goal rather than trying to piece together their own kingdoms. But he was a central part to the Shadow in the books and the role I was playing was never brought up, I was never a part of the story.

In any case, I was so very happy just to wait, until I realized how long I had waited and just about threw a fit getting things ready to go to the rebel Aes Sedai. I needed to catch Aran'gar off balance, I would have been able to save Egwene's maids if I hadn't waited so long but she was going to meet with the Andoran and Murandian armies today and I intended to be at the meeting. Grabbing clothing that several servants assured me was of Andoran style I nearly ripped the coat getting it on. It was nearing mid-morning and I needed to be at the meeting when the Aes Sedai arrived to avoid notice. If I arrived earlier I would be found out, if I arrived after the mingling had started I would be noticed as well. I had a good chance of being noticed whatever I did, but I was going to be there.

I had put on woolens as well to blend in. I knew what I was looking for so I opened a gateway two hundred feet above where I was pretty sure the meeting would take place. Poking my head out of the gateway, I saw the Amyrlin's party moving slowly towards the meeting place on the frozen lake and the Andorans and Murandians were already setting up. Telmanes was with his hundred men of the Red Hand, and I nearly clapped my hands together in excitement. I couldn't have picked a better time to drop in on them. Ducking back into the Sun Palace, I let the gateway close and made another gateway open. It wasn't for Traveling though, I stepped through into Tel'aran'rhiod.

Knowing full well what I could do here, in one step the surroundings changed and I was standing in the snow where flickers of a camp being set up could be seen. The gateway opened before me and I made sure that I was alone for the most part before stepping through, and into the bustle of activity. Men and women ran every which way to get things ready for the meeting, chairs were being set up inside a pavillion and the buzz of activity was a nice sound. "I belong here," I said quietly to myself, as reassurance if nothing more.

A hush fell on the gatherd Lords, Ladies and servants. The Aes Sedai had come, and I hadn't come a moment too soon. I sought out Talmanes, finding him quickly, and fell in beside him when he took a place inside the pavillion after the Aes Sedai had entered. He looked startled to see me, a quick glance at my ears said he remembered me. My ears weren't a subject for discussion however, I had remembered to mask them so that I didn't make a scene.

"I hope you left Mat well." There was a threat in his words that I didn't miss.

"When I left he was well, better than well. He had a woman chasing him and I don't think he was much pleased by the reversal of roles." Telmanes chuckled softly, it wouldn't do to disrupt the meeting.

"I wondered when Mat would end up on the recieving end of his own pleasures, I suppose you won't tell me where he is?" When I shook my head he sighed, but before he could say any more Sheriam spoke.

"Mother, may I present to you, of Andor, Arathelle Renshar, High Seat of House Renshar. Pelivar Coelan, High Seat of House Coelan. Aemlyn Carand, High Seat of House Carand, and her husband, Culhan Carand." They acknowledged their names sourly, with bare nods and no more. "May I present, of Murandy, Donel do Morny a'Lordeine. Cian do Mehon a'Macansa. Paitr do Fearna a'Conn. Segan do Avharin a'Roos." The lack of titles irked all the nobles to no end. I wondered if Aes Sedai made a habit of offending as many people as they could as fast as they could manage it. The arrogance of the White Tower surely made it hard for any sister to see others act more important than they. Egwene had glanced over at where Telmanes, Moiraine, and I stood and I was suprised when she blinked at me. I would have thought she had a bit more self control, a few of the lesser Lords and Ladies turned to see who had suprised her. Sheriam continued without pause, "You are beneath the eyes of the Watcher of the Seals. You are before the Flame of Tar Valon. You may present your supplications to the Amyrlin Seat."

I wondered if anyone knew that the Amyrlin Seat, Eliada or Egwene, had no more idea where the three remaining seals on the Dark One's prison were than the previous Amyrlin's knew of all seven. A nasty pickle, to claim to watch the seals and have no idea where they were.

"There are ancient ties between Andor and the White Tower," Egwene said, loudly and firmly. "Sisters have always expected welcome in Andor or Murandy. Why then do you bring an army against Aes Sedai? You meddle where thrones and nations fear to step. Thrones have fallen, meddling in the affairs of Aes Sedai."

"We are here precisely because we do not want to become entangled in the White Tower's affairs. "Arathelle's voice held tones of authority, unsurprising in the High Seat of a powerful House. There was no hint of the diffidence that might have been expected, even from a powerful High Seat, facing so many sisters, not to mention the Amyrlin Seat. "If all we've heard is true, then at best, allowing you to pass through Andor unhindered may seem like giving aid, or even alliance, in the eyes of the White Tower. Failure to oppose you might mean learning what the grape learns in the winepress."

The Murandians looked around uneasily, they had let the army march through their country. Arathelle continued as if she had not noticed, but Egwene doubted that. "At worst. . . . We have heard . . . reports . . . of Aes Sedai making their way into Andor in secret, and Tower Guards. Rumors might be a better

word, but they come from many places. None of us would like to see a battle between Aes Sedai in Andor." The sisters from the Tower that were going to destroy the Black Tower, or so they thought. Fifty-one sisters and about three hundred of the Tower Guard against nearly three hundred Asha'man. No one here knew about the strike at the Black Tower except myself and maybe Moiraine if I had told her about it earlier. But Moiraine could do nothing with the Eelfinn, and I wasn't going to do anything.

The banter went on, Egwene asserted herself as the Amyrlin Seat and informed the nobility present of her plan to remain here a month and then to continue on to the Tower. Egwene's declaration that the Novice book was open to all made everyone give a start, or at least blink twice, and then the mingling began. Aes Sedai from Salidar knew who I was, and I had masked my ears then as well so I looked exactly as they remembered. The fact that I was in the camp made a few try to maneuver me into speaking with them, Delana made a considerable effort after Halima, Aran'gar, spoke to her. I flowed through the crowd, speaking quickly with men and women who weren't sure if they knew me or not. It was amusing really, they must be wondering if I had come with the Aes Sedai to spy on them because apparently most knew each other even if not well. I couldn't avoid the Aes Sedai forever, but it was Siuan that managed to corner me.

"The Amyrlin wants to speak with you," she spoke in hushed tones but it would have been hard for anyone to overhear us unless we were talking loudly.

I smiled warmly, Siuan had been pillow-friends with Moiraine as a Novice and Accepted. Not something I had thought about when I read the books originally, but after some investigation into other matters I stumbled on to what exactly pillow-friends were. "That is good, I wish to speak with the Amyrlin as well. I wonder," Siuan had turned away but swung around when I spoke again, "if you could inform her I am acompanying you back to your camp."

Siuan's expression never changed, but I could tell she was warring with herself over what to do. I had given her a gift, allowing her to slowly regain her former strength in the Power, but would Egwene want me along? Was it constructive to Egwene's plans for me to go with them? I wanted Egwene to become the Amyrlin Seat in truth as well as name but I had to take care of Aran'gar and explain some things to her and I couldn't do it here. Siuan nodded slowly, then hurried away into the crowd of nobles.

Egwene was speaking with Telmanes at the back of the tent and Siuan had a tall red-head on the other side looking as if he wanted to be elsewhere. I watched Egwene closely, Talmanes had just bent his head to her and had agreed not to start a war in Murandy. She broke off their conversation and started around the pavillion, in my direction. I begged myself out of a conversation with a noble from somewhere, and I watched the Amyrlin move about in my general direction. By the way I was standing, I was not inviting conversation, Aes Sedai didn't seem to care about courtesy. Egwene was almost near enough to speak to when Delana approached me again, this time with Halima practically dragging her over.

The buxom Forsaken was wearing a very revealing dress, exposing more of her bosum than even a Domani would think was proper, and she batted her eyes at me and leaned forward to present her breasts in the best way possible. It made me feel sick watching the display, I wondered if Aran'gar knew that I was aware of her true identity.

"My Lord?" Delana began.

"I'm not a Lord, Aes Sedai," several of the Sitter's looked over to see who had interrupted an Aes Sedai, and looked as though they would like to teach me a lesson, "I have not titles and no lands."

Delana was flustered, to say the least, and Halima had changed her tactics from throwing herself at me to giving enticing smiles, "Well then, I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure of being introduced to you." It was true, I had avoided her as much as possible but now she had me, and I had to say something. I wondered why she didn't recognize me from Salidar, she asked to bond me Warder several times.

"My name is Taylor, Aes Sedai."

"Taylor," Halima's voice was sultry and seductive, but I knew she had been a man and it only turned me off, "I don't suppose you've reconsidered Delana Sedai's offer to be her Warder."

"I'm afraid I haven't," I wanted to be truly wicked, to point her out here, but I could make her sweat in the mean time. Looking directly at Halima I continued in a hushed voice, "My mother told me that I was too stubborn for my own good. She told me Balthamel would come and get me, as a child, if I couldn't stop being stubborn." Both women tensed at the name of one of the Forsaken, but Halima looked about ready to sick up. "Forgive me, Aes Sedai, but I would like to speak with the Amyrlin." I moved passed the poleaxed women and met Egwene before a Yellow sister could grab her. The Yellow might have been Romanda, but I wasn't sure.

Before I could even get a grin on my face Egwene's eyes cut holes in my coat, "What are you doing here?" Her tone was furious but whispered, "Most of the Sitter's know you went with Elayne and Mat, how are you going to explain your presence here?"

"I'm not hiding who I am anymore, Mother." I took her hand and kissed her Great Serpent ring with a flourish that would have done Thom Merrilin proud. I wasn't particularly sure where I had learned to flourish, I hadn't had any more episodes where I 'learned' things. "I only hide my ears so that the Lords and Ladies don't wonder more on what I am rather than what you have said."

Egwene's eyes dropped a few degrees, "Regardless of your decision to come out of hiding, what are you doing here?"

"Catching a Forsaken Mother." It was Egwene's turn to look poleaxed, she hid it rather well but she didn't say anything so I continued, "Several of the Forsaken have been given assignments to watch certain people important to future events, you are one of them. I believe I have frightened the one here into being wary of me. If the Forsaken here realizes that I actually know who he or she is then the game is up and I'll have to take him or her here." Egwene looked flustered, I had carefully not revealed the gender of the Forsaken, not only for my amusement but because Egwene might realize who Aran'gar had been masquarading as before I could take care of him/her, whatever!

"Then Suian wasn't joking? You intend to go with us to our camp?" My nod sent her musing. How to get me back to camp without the Sitters finding a way to question me along the way or once back in the camp. "I suppose it won't be difficult for you to come with us, the problem is keeping the Sitters away from you."

I thumbed a small earring in my left ear. "If I may suggest, Mother," I waited until she nodded impatiently, "I have the means of keeping them away. I won't injure or do anything to the Sitters, but I dont' think all the Aes Sedai in your camp could overpower me now." Egwene looked skeptical, until she noticed that I hadn't stopped playing with my earring.

"A sa'angreal?"

"No," it was my crowning achievement of my 'days off'. An angreal attuned specifically for how I channeled, buffering me against the Power from Saidin and Saidar unified. With my angreal I could now hold fifteen times the amount of Power I could before, well short of sa'angreal buffering ability but still allowing me to hold about the same amount of the Power as Rand would with Callandor. I hadn't used it yet, and I didn't really want to, but if it turned out that I had to force my way out of the Salidar Aes Sedai's camp, I would need it. "It's an angreal, but only I can use it. I would be suprised if every Aes Sedai together would be able to stop me with this."

Egwene looked at the earring warily, then exchanged parting pleasantries before going to talk to someone else.

Only two more Aes Sedai tried to corner me, but the grace I had 'learned' from a Lady came in handy when maneuvering around the crowded pavillion. The sun was nearing the point where the Aes Sedai had to leave or be back after sunset, none wanted to remain here overnight. In short order the Aes Sedai were mounted I was riding with the servants at the rear. Every sister took note of my presence, and I noticed that some recognized me from when I spent a few days in Salidar.

Of considerable interest to them was my ears, after leaving the Andoran and Murandian armies behind I let the illusion that my ears were rounded fall away. The first servant, a woman in a dress suited for a court rather than trudging though snow, screamed that I was Shadowspawn when saw my ears. Several of the Sitters embraced the Source and nearly wove fireballs or lightning before realizing that the servant was screaming about me. Some looked as though they wanted to reconsider after taking note of my ears. The two Brown Sitters were ready to drop back and 'chat' with me before reciving stern glares from the other Aes Sedai who would not lower themselves to ride amoung the servants. Delana sent Halima to speak with me, and Aran'gar seemed more than aprehensive upon seeing my ears. Aparently the Forsaken had spread news of me amoungts themselves, but how much Moghedien had told of what I had revealed to her and Rahvin was anyones guess. Halima barely tried to talk me into joining Delana before digging her heels into the large gelding and galloping away from me.

"I wonder if she will try to run," I mused. If she had any notion that I was aware of her identity, which I might as well have shouted to the world when I named Balthamel, she would try to kill me to keep her secret. After that she would flee, I hoped I would be ready to face one of the Forsaken who attacks first." Just as in the book, the Hall and their servants arrived back at the camp just as the sun was about to touch the treetops. I was watching Halima very carefully now, if she embraced Saidin I would feel it and I would stop her. Aran'gar would die today, I hoped it wouldn't change things too drastically.

Egwene called the Hall to sit, and then the waiting game began. Halima vanished but I knew she was still in the camp, if she channeled I would know and if she passed the ward I had cast around the camp I would know. She was neatly pinned, and she was probably trying to contact another of the Forsaken without me knowing about it. I was waiting for the Sitters to exit the tent, but none came out. An Aes Sedai went into the tent, and then came back out in such a hurry that she must have had her head snapped off.

"The Amyrlin wishes that Taylor present himself before the Hall," the sister called loudly. I jumped in spite of myself, Egwene was calling me before the Hall?

The wards I had set were inverted, Aran'gar couldn't know I had set them. If she channeled I would have to attack, but if she didn't I wasn't about to present to the world that she was one of the Forsaken right then and there. Walking calmly, I entered the tent of the Hall of the Tower.

"Mother," I began, bowing low for Egwene. I ignored the Sitters. Three for each Ajah except Red, including Egwene and Sheriam made twenty sisters. I hoped I wouldn't have to use my earing angreal, I was already holding Saidin through my walking staff angreal.

"Taylor, your presence here is under question, we wish to know your intentions and you will reveal everything." She was not happy, nor were any of the Sitters. All were dressed in the same clothing they had worn to the meeting with the Andoran and Muranian armies and would have dazzeled most with the sheer expense of the fabric used. Enough jewelry was present to buy most of the Two Rivers.

I hadn't told her I was going to present her with one of the Forsaken, I hadn't even really intended to reveal I knew Halima was one of the Forsaken, but I got excited and said too much. Then I did too much and I might have alerted Aran'gar that I knew who she was. "I am here for several reasons, the first is to tell you that the Dragon Reborn has killed Sammael and has been crowned king of Illian." Serene Aes Sedai faces regarded me coldly, "The second is to reveal myself to the Aes Sedai." Egwene blinked, maybe she hadn't thought I was serious when I said I was done hiding. I let go of Saidin, and embraced Saidar and Saidin together. The Sitters had been sitting, as they should considering their position, but they lept to their feet at what they saw before them. I was embracing the Unified Power through my angreal, and the amount of Saidar I held was equal to what the strongest circle in the Tower with the most powerful sa'angreal the Tower possessed could hold.

My voice was, different, when I spoke. Deep and commanding, it extended well beyond where my voice should have been able to reach. And just like with Lanfear, it wasn't me who controlled my voice, "I am Kel 'Aridavin Deshuvekil, the Hand of the Creator. I have come in the hour of need. I have come when Tarmon Gai'don approaches. I have come when the Shadow raises his own Hand to bring balance to the Pattern. I have come to face the Shadow with the Dragon. I have come with knowledge of one future and to aid in acomplishing that future. I have come."

Sagging as if I had been forced to run a week without rest, I remembered what I said and goggled. Was the Creator speaking through me when I said those words? Or was there another person sharing my body like Lews Therin was sharing Rand's mind. The Sitters were looking poleaxed, Egwene looked poleaxed, the crowd outside probably looked poleaxed. Strength was beginning to return to my limbs when Egwene shook herself, as she moved it broke the spell and there was a rush as breath was expelled from everyone in the immediate area.

Strength had returned, but not enough for me to stand up straight. I tried to bring my legs solidly under me but they just didn't seem to want to stiffen work. "Kel 'Aridavin Deshuvekil," a Brown Aes Sedai breathed, "that is not the Old Tounge."

It wasn't, it was the language used by the Creator when She made the world. It was the language used by the men of the first Age, the Age first woven by the Wheel of Time, and I had no idea how I knew that. Yet another piece of information that I didn't know where it came from. I reached for the Unified Power and grasped it, used it to feel, to bring my body under control so I could stand proudly before the Hall.

I felt Saidin being used, a gateway by the strength needed, and Halima was gone from my grasp. It didn't seem such a large loss now, I had announced my presence to the world. If only to Aes Sedai, but that wasn't so very problematic. Word would spread very quickly, something like this would be almost impossible to contain and I wondered if the rumors I heard about myself would claim I was the Creator incarnate. The Sitters and Egwene all stared at me, I had only just regained my footing and it seemed I was regaining my strength. What would happen now? Would they believe me? I knew that, even without my angreal, I would have been able to resist a circle of thirteen. My fear of the Aes Sedai presented before me was relatively small, but enemies you didn't expect often killed you before the enemies you were focused on attacked.

"Taylor," Egwene's voice was tiny compared to the boom of mine, "I would ask that you leave for a time so that the Hall may consider what you have said."

It probably wasn't her place to ask me to leave, but not even Romanda or Lelaine blinked an eye at the lack of ceremony. Bowing gracefully, it occured to me that Egwene was the one of the few people I had given a title or bowed to, I withdrew from the tent. Aes Sedai, Warders, Accepted and Novices drew away from me as I stepped from the tent, a path opened and a black shape stood at the end. I recognized a Myrddraal when I saw it, but it was gone an instant after my eyes brushed it. Without appearing to, I searched the surrounding area for the mysterious Myrddraal. It must have been Shaidar Haran, no other Myrddraal would dare come this close to over a hundred Aes Sedai.

"It wasn't me," I was muttering to myself and I knew it, "it wasn't me that said that." Kel 'Aridavin, directly translated it meant the Creator's Hand. Deshuvekil had no translation that I knew. Directly translated from what I had no clue, I wasn't even sure how I knew what it meant.

My name! Deshuvekil was my name! It was the only possible answer I could think of. Why else would I have said it? Walking past a group of Novices, I didn't see the looks of adoration on some of their eyes. Adoration and desire based on a crush, if I had seen it that's what I would have assumed. I didn't see them, and I didn't see the tail of Warders and three Aes Sedai that followed me. It wouldn't have worried me, I had just made a declaration that would have shaken the White Tower if I had been in it when I finally said what I was. The Hand of the Creator! How was this all possible?

Sometime during the night, I woke up and got off the bed I had made. Using the Power I had formed a dome, much like Rand had done in Seanchan, of snow and warmed the air inside while weaving a protective flow of Water and Air that kept the dome from melting while I slept. Without knowing what had woken me, and already dressed, I cut a hole in the dome of snow and walked outside. Thumbing my angreal earring, I left the walking stick in the dome, I wandered about for a time before deciding to go back to sleep. I hadn't seen anything resembling activity, and the camp spread out a little ways off so I had no fear of wild animals braving the proximity drawing close enough to attack without notice. Turning around, the Myrddrall I had seen earlier that day gliding towards me. In the darkness anything appeared black, but the shape drawing closer was darker than anything I could have imagined. Black paled beside the void this thing made, the little light around it seemed to grow dark as it passed by. The closer it came, the more light seemed to be absorbed into it's cloak. I embraced the Unified Power through my angreal, feeling the flood of completeness rush into me. I never felt the warning signs that told me I was drawing too much of the Power with both sides unified. I was simply unable to draw any more after a point.

The figure stopped ten paces from me, and the darkness around it seemed to melt away in degrees. A pasty white, eyeless gaze stared at me from within a cowl of the blackest material I had ever seen. Not as black as the void that had surrounded it as it moved. The Myrddraal was a head taller than the few I had seen, and radiated a presence that could only be described as evil. It was Shaidar Haran!

"The Hands have come together," it's dry raspy voice seemed to force itself out of it's throat, it made no threataning gestures but I felt it draw on something. The True Power filled it and the world screamed in protest. "You and I must come to an agreement, our masters would be displeased if the Hand they have sent is destroyed."

"An agreement?" It was ludicrous! "We stand on absolute opposites of the playing field and you want to parlay? Forgive me for asking but did the Dark One make you less intelligent than other Myrddraal to make you taller?"

It stuck out with the Power derived from the Shadow, as much as I could have held without my angreal. I couldn't see the flows it used any more than a man or woman could see what the other did with Saidar or Saidin, but I knew what to expect and slashed at where I felt the flows. Shaidar Haran recoiled in shock, partly from the rebounding of it's weaves, and partly because of the ease in which I had repelled it.

"You are much stronger than I," it's voice carried a hint of fear, it tried to cover the emotion but I heard it. "The Great Lord of the Dark does not wish you dead, He wishes you to enjoy your time here and to leave the world as it stands." It's mouth quirked in a semblance of a smile, it looked horrible on its face. Rage was boiling slowly inside me, it would take more than a partial threat to make me strike out. "The Dragon must be allowed to move forward unhindered or guided by either you or me. That is how it must be."

I was confused, and angry, but confusion took up more of my feelings at the moment. Why under the Light did it think I was going to just walk away from the world? "You wish a truce, no direct contact with the world? I've already heard this story, one side cheats and I'll be the first to do so in this telling. You are weaker than me Shaidar Haran, you attacked me without provocation, and you mock me. If this is how the Shadow goes about gaining ground in bargaining you should go back to the drawing board." That saying was not something I had ever heard in this world but the idea behind it was obvious. "I will continue to affect events I feel need to be, and you will do the same whatever you claim to promise. If our meddling causes problems, well, I have publicly declared myself and will move more openly than you will dare for some time. With the Dragon in posession of the access keys to the Choeden Kal, I suggest you walk lightly for the time being. I know where they are, I can use both, and I would destroy the Dark One in his prison if I thought I could do any good." I didn't know if I could, unifying the Power with the Choeden Kal might make me strong enough to crush the Dark One but would I be allowed? Would the Creator allow Her Hand to act so outside the future I knew? It would be nice if I knew what I was supposed to do. Rand knew he was supposed to face the Dark One at Shaoul Ghul, but I had no idea what to do. I was aparently supposed to be here based on my speech earlier, but why?

The Shadow's Hand flinched when I said I would destroy the Dark One's prison if I thought it would do any good, it flinched when I said I knew where the Choeden Kal access keys were. "I will depart, but I will come again. Consider what I have said." It vanished, Myrddraal could do that if they found shadows and the night was full of shadows.

The snap of a twig alerted me to someone approaching. I didn't move, but I was filled to the limit with the Unified Power and had woven a shield that would stop anything but balefire from penetrating it. Four other weaves were formed and ready to be used if whoever it was turned out to be a threat. "Taylor," Egwene's voice cut through the silence of the night and I nearly lost control of my weaves I was so relieved. "I saw you speaking with someone, who was it?"

"Never mind what you saw," my voice was cold, just the memory of Shaidar Haran made me feel unclean. I needed to bathe. "What did you want?"

"The Hall has reached a decision about you." They had been in session all night? "In the morning you will be summoned and recognized as the Creator's Hand. The Hall will then ask that you remain and advise us in reclaiming the White Tower." I stiffened at that, Egwene had to be taken prisoner when the rebel Aes Sedai besieged the Tower in order to undercut Elaida. "I know you will refuse, but will you consider meeting me in Tel'aran'rhiod at regular intervals to speak with me?"

Egwene al'Vere was the Amyrlin Seat, the rightful Amyrlin as the rebels saw it and I saw it that way as well, but she was all but begging me. She was speaking to my back, and I turned around to face her. The weak light of the moon, obscured by clouds, covered her face in shadows that seemed to point out her beauty. Wearing a thick cloak to keep warm, I wasn't able to see under it to know if she had changed from her clothes. Weaving quickly, the air around Egwene warmed considerably and she smiled in thanks.

"I can meet you in Tel'aran'rhiod any night you wish, I may even visit you directly. But you are right, I will refuse to stay. Rand will need me soon and I can save lives if I go to him."

"How much of the future do you know?" Her eyes held the hunger I had seen when she was trying to pry answers out of me when she was still with Rand.

"I know a great deal more than I want to, and not enough." I sighed in weary resignation and motioned for her to come closer. She did, "I can't tell you what I know, I only reluctantly tell Rand anything. Moiraine was the only person I told things to because both of us knew she was going to die." The lie came easier now.

"She knew!" Egwene's startled voice cut through the relative silence of the night. Reaching out with the Power, something I had discovered while wondering if it were possible to feel the area around me, I found all living things within hearing range. A slumbering squirrel, two hares, and a woman. Changing the flows I caressed the woman with the Power to discover her identity through her appearance. I did not know her, so I could not identify her.

"Come out of the darkness," I spoke in the direction I knew the woman was. She had a ward against eavesdroppers surrounding her, so I didn't hear her squeek, but from her movements I knew she had made some noise.

Nicola Treehill slowly came forward, Areina also came out of the darkness a little beyond my sweep. I had guessed the two were together, from what I knew one was never far from the other, and they came to stand before the Amyrlin and the Hand of the Creator in such humility I would have forgiven them immediately if I didn't know they had done this before and would continue to do this to gain advantage. I had seen Nicola when first coming to Salidar, she had seen the glow around Mat that signified his being ta'veren. And she could Fortell, what she Fortold was always criptic and she never remembered but Areina was always around to remember for her.

Egwene flashed me a significant look, I smiled back at her and she released a tension in her shoulders. I thought the look was to allow her to do the talking, but women had so many looks there was no way to be sure which one she had tossed at you. "Nicola, Areina," she paused, trying to come up with something to say. The two would be a constant bother, and Nicola would run away to the Tower eventually, but now Egwene had to bring her to heel. "I will see you in my study tomorrow morning after the Hall has concluded. Areina, I will see you immediately afterwards." Splitting them up, cutting their power in half. Egwene looked so stern that both of them should have been quailing and begging for mercy, they mearly looked penitent. "Go now," she gestured towards the camp, "daughters." It was a cutting remark and both felt it keenly. Both of the women were older than Egwene by at least a year, and having a woman younger than you giving orders always grated on nerves.

The two dashed away, after giving properly low curtsies, abandoning grace for speed. "I'm impressed Mother, if I had to deal with those two I would have had them strapped until they howled when they thought of sitting." Egwene smiled faintly, "I believe I can trust you." That brought her attention back on me, "The person I was talking to, the one you saw, it was the Hand of the Dark One." Egwene paled noticably, "He offered me a truce, neither of us would affect events directly until the Final Battle. Unfortunately for the Shadow, I've seen to much and read too much to believe that an agreement of that sort could be possible. I have a far greater library of information about maneuvering than the Shadow, I think the Dark One himself would shy away from politics in my world." I chuckled wryly. If the Dark One could even imagine the beauracracy he would have to go through just to get a letter to a politician he would weep in fury.

"You trusted me, I will trust you." I had thought she had been completely honest with me, aparently not. "If you refuse, there has been talk of restraining you. If what you claim is true, your knowledge of future events is to valuable to be allowed to wander about. I argued against any action aimed at keeping you here against your will but I fear the Hall will act without my consent in this. We are at war, but this is not a matter of war and after I've taken so much control from the Hall they will reach for anything to assert their authority."

"Did you think they might suceed in holding me?" The scorn in my voice was hard to keep mildly supressed, "Aes Sedai think they can hold me? Mother, I could destroy this entire camp without the sister's even being able to put up a mild annoyance. The only threat to me, is assasination. The only difficulty presented me is my lack of understanding at what changing events would do. I would changed events to suit me better in just about every corner of the world, starting with the destruction of the Forsaken. Unfortuantely, I can't. If I go about indescriminately changing things from what I know should happen I may cause the Shadow to win. With all my power, I am limited to assisting events so that they happen as I know they should." There, I had said it. I was just short of a god, and I couldn't do anything that would jepordize the future.

The Amyrlin Seat was turning to leave, and I felt as if I had forgotten to tell her something, "Egwene," I had called her Mother up to this point, it made her turn quickly, "I need to try and explain something to you. About Rand." I had her attention, she waited for me to continue, "I imagine you understand a little of what he has gone through up till now, the manipulation by Aes Sedai ever since Moiraine came to Emonds Field. You have to understand that now that you are the focus of Aes Sedai in Salidar."

"Yes, I understand some of what he is going through."

"You don't understand the half of it though, because that's only a small part of what he has had to go through mostly alone. He is the Dragon Reborn, some people think he is the Light made flesh, others that he is the herald of final doom. Lords and Ladies simper to him and try to stab him in the back, common folk cry out his name and curse the day the Dragon was born again. His friends, even you, couldn't decide how you felt about him. I've seen the way you and Mat looked at him while you were together, sometimes you are afraid of him. How would you feel knowing that you were destined to go mad and your friends are scared of you? The woman you thought he thought he would marry one day was slowly becoming the enemy? Aes Sedai are his enemy whatever you want to believe. And the only way he could hope to survive all this is lost in the Prophecies of the Dragon. He is going to die at Shayol Ghul, the best he can hope for is to win and die."

"But I was only trying to help him, to make him listen to Moiraine. If he had maybe."

"Moiraine was more concerned with what the Tower wanted than what was correct. She would have had him go to Illian with the Horn of Valere, Sammael would have killed him then. Moiraine didn't want him to go to the Aiel Waste, or take the clans across the Dragon Wall, what would have happened if he hadn't? Siuan Sanche would have been deposed whatever he did, Min saw it happen. What would have happened if he had gone to the Tower as Moiraine wanted? Did you know Mesaana is in the White Tower? The world wants him dead, it has always wanted him dead because prophecy isn't supposed to happen in someone's lifetime. You became Aes Sedai, Moiraine was constantly trying to force him to do what she wanted, nobles tried to make him give them power, and the only person he could talk to was a woman who told him she hated him." Aviendha was in love with him, no matter how feircly she had tried to deny it. "He couldn't talk to you, he wanted to you know. I think it still hurts him to know that the people he grew up with are scared of him." The shadows obscured her reaction to my words, "He has had to let women die for him, of all things I am sure that hurts most of all because at least you or Mat or Perrin don't hate him.

Egwene was silent for a long time, then gave me a small curtsy. That nearly knocked me off my feet in suprise, and she left without a word. The weave around her that kept her warm would fall apart in a few minutes, but she hadn't appeared angry at my statements, just considering. She looked over her shoulder at me before vanishing amoung the tents.

As Amyrlin, and with this being a completely unheard of event, Egwene was the one to ask me to remain to advise the Aes Sedai.

"No." The Sitters, particularly Romanda and Lelaine were pictures of serenity. I held Saidin through the blue walking stick angreal I had in my hand.

Both Romanda and Lelaine stood at the same time, but Romanda's disturbingly high voice for such a large woman came first. "The Hall and the Amyrlin Seat has asked you to remain Taylor out of courtesy. We, however, never intended to allow you to leave. We will ask again that you remain of your own free will."

"Aes Sedai, you mistake yourselves. I am stronger and more knowledgeable in the Power than you are, I am offering you my help and you throw it in my face. I am well aware of your situation here, I also know that you have nothing that could sway me. I am leaving, I will return or meet you in Tel'aran'rhiod but I am leaving."

"It appears you are overconfident," Lelaine's voice dripped with acidity, most likely directed at Romanda. "You will remain, we have spoken." Why was she smirking so? They could not think they were stronger, I when I had embraced the Unified Power they had to have felt how strong I was. They must know I was strong enough to break a circle of thirteen and have enough left over to smash the circle of six afterwards.

I heard my voice, but in the calm it didn't seem to come from me, "And how do you intend to keep me here? Your strength in Saidar isn't sufficent to hold me, even linked. There aren't enough sisters in the entire camp to shield me. You have no men to make the circles larger, and if you did have one you could only bring the circle to twenty-four. That would still not be strong enough. You can't attack me, you can't hold me, and you can't threaten me."

The Sitters still seemed arrogant, why? The tent flap opened and two people entered. I looked over my shoulder and would have gasped in suprise if I hadn't been holding the Power. An Aes Sedai was holding Moiraine! But Moiraine was in the Tower of Ghenjei!

"You see, we have the woman you care for. I did not want to resort to this," Lelaine went on to explain that they really had wanted me to remain of my own free will. I was still trying to figure out they had found Moiraine, and how they knew I cared for her.

Moiraine didn't say anything, she looked scared and pale but alright. How? Why wasn't she saying anything?

"Aes Sedai? You resort to this?" It made no sense, why would they hold Moiraine hostage in order to control me? Why were they trying to force me to do what they wanted this way? I couldn't see the rage on my face, but I knew it was there. It boiled inside of me, threatened to destroy my self control, I had to keep ahold of myself. "Why? Why are you doing this? It makes no sense! I can help you, I will help you but I can't be held here. Wha-" Something made me look closer at Moiraine, and I growled dangerously. "You play a dangerous game girls."

Before any of the Sitters could respond to my insult, I slashed the inverted weave that surrounded Moiraine. She shimmered, and suddenly there was a startled Aes Sedai I did not recognize standing where Moiraine had been. They hadn't found Moiraine, but somehow they had learned I loved her.

"Taylor," it was Egwene, I had seen the shock in her eyes before I turned around so I did not suspect that she had known about this, "you must understand."I cut her off, "I hold Romanda and Lelaine responsible for this Mother, fortunately for them I am unwilling to Sever their connection to Saidar." I glared at the two women in turn, they quailed and leaned away from me. "It is a good thing you hadn't actually found a way to bring Moiraine back from the dead, I might have killed you for it. I will be leaving now, I will contact you through the Amyrlin in Tel'aran'rhiod. If I am harrased again things will not go so well for you." Weaving flows of Earth, Fire, Water and Spirit, I formed an impenetrable shield around myself with a hole in the top for air to come in and out of. Otherwise I would suffocate in a short time, the shield kept everything but balefire out and that included oxygen. I left the tent, opened a gateway, and Traveled to Cairhien.

**A/N: That chapter was painful to write, there was a lot of stuff that I had to edit because I had written Moiraine into the story. Stupid of me, and I regret it now, but I did it and now I have to edit her out.**


	20. Chapter 20 : Callandor

A week later, I was in a tent with Rand and Davram Bashere looking over maps. Rand's army had regrouped, the Asha'man resting for tomorrows attack at the Seanchan defence of Ebou Dar. Casualties had been heavy on the Seanchan's side, and Rand's army had taken losses near to what I had expected from what I knew of events. Sul'dam and damane had been captured and sent to the Black Tower, and Rand's forces were taking chunks out of Seanchan controlled Altara.  
Removing the Seanchan outposts had been difficult, time consuming, and costly. Lives had been lost simply because Rand's army had stumbled onto an outpost they didn't know was there, not to mention the fact that Saidin and Saidar reacted strangely around Ebou Dar. Both seemed to have a will of their own, wanting to do other than what the Asha'man or damane wanted. Even unified I felt the tingle of Power that said the two sides of the Source were agitated. Both were under my complete control, but it still 'wiggled' when I wasn't using it.  
"Are you certain?" Rand had been talking stratagy with Bashere all evening. The last outpost to be attacked had been sacked in under twenty minutes, the sul'dam had died trying to defend her damane that had been shielded against using the Power. Tomorrow Rand would begin the attack that would lead to him using Callandor, and devistating both sides of the field in his madness. I couldn't let that happen, but what else would make Rand turn away from his hopes of forcing the Seanchan back out to sea.  
"Of course not," Bashere replied through his moustaches, "as soon as we engage them everything falls apart. If anything stayed acording to plan in any battle wars would not be so bloody."  
I had spent time with the sul'dam before they were taken to the Black Tower, they had gawked at my ears and screamed in horror when I used Saidar around them. The Asha'man had been little better in that respect, two had tried to kill me when I found Rand three days ago. Only three days, three bloody days that had been spent killing and defending. Nothing stood a chance against me, Rand started sending me out on my own to destroy outposts after the first day and I had stopped after half a day of killing. Several of the guards had commented on my weak stomach when I returned pale faced and crying after the seventh outpost I destroyed, but they hadn't seen what I had done.  
"You couldn't have known!" A servant for Lady Anaiyella had told me, I knew it, but I still couldn't channel for the rest of the day. Confessing to this woman hadn't seemed odd at the time, I didn't know her and she didn't know me. She knew of me, but didn't know me. Either she actually felt sorry for me, or the High Lady of Tear had sent her to try and gain my favor. I had looked over the ruins of each outpost I destroyed, most of the dead were men and none were sul'dam or damane. I avoided the outposts that had damane, I could sense them two hundred paces away so it was easy to be near enough to know without coming out of the cover of the forest.  
What I found at the seventh outpost, what had made me pale faced and started me sobbing, was the twenty childred that were lying under the rubble of one of the buildings. I flattened each outpost, crushing buildings with flows of Air and hurling fireballs at groups of armored men, not giving them a chance to flee or fight back. I don't know what made me move the rubble from that particular building, but the moment I saw the little hand I felt as though my heart had been ripped from my chest. All of them were dead, crushed by the building falling on them. I assumed that all of them were Taraboner, Amadician or Altaran because the Seanchan hadn't brought settlers yet. I cried for an hour before I could make a gateway back to Rand's camp. It moved as often as the attacking Asha'man, but a Finding placed on Rand made it simple to locate.  
Bashere had overheard the woman trying to comfort me that evening and told Rand. Someone overheard him because the story of the child killing freak was on everyone's lips by the time I came out of the tent I slept in the next day. Seven men tried to kill me after I came out, it made it worse that I couldn't deny killing the children.  
Tomorrow's battle would come, I had tried coming up with a solution to stop Rand from using Callandor but couldn't find one. He had to use it and be completely demoralized or he would press on. That the Seanchan would be defeated didn't matter, Rand had to call the retreat!  
"I know that," Rand had no patience in his voice, Bashere ignored his tone and took a gulp of wine from the cup he held.  
Looking over the map, I saw what I had expected. Rand's forces were driving the Seanchan back towards Ebou Dar smartly, and the Seanchan forces were gathering for a surging attack in the forests that hid armies until they were ontop of you. "They're probably going to spread out, the general isn't a fool and he knows you have Asha'man by now. He may even know that you can Travel, with that knowledge he will split his forces into small but comparatively large groups and attack your own spread out army. It's going to be a slaughter if that happens."  
That was how I 'told' Rand what I knew. I made suggestions and he paid careful note of them. He paid careful note to whatever I said, including my advice to channel as little as possible. Rand hardly channeled at all after the sickness to him in the future I knew, and that sickness may have saved him from the madness until he cleansed Saidin. I didn't want to take the chance that he might use enough Saidin to snap. Delving him with the specific purpose of removing as much Taint as possible seemed beyond me. The mind wasn't something I would remedy, yet, even if it was caused by the True Power. I was convinced I could remove the damage the Taint was causing if I only thought hard enough, considered the right questions. So far though, I had found nothing.  
Rand gave me a grateful nod, and he went about preparing for that eventuality. I couldn't stand being inside anymore, the walls reminded me of the building I had crushed. Outside I drew a deep breath, and an arrow hit the barrier of Air I had surrounded myself in. Quick as lightning, I found where the arrow had come from. Two men in stripped armor stood amoung the trees, if I was right they had come from where the High Lord Weiramon was guarding. Grumbling to myself, I incinerated the men where they stood. Questioning them would be worthless, Compulsion was not something I entertained, and I was angry. Having two men burst into flames made several men in the camp jump and stare, even the armor of the two men had been burned to a crisp. Walking through the camp with a wide path before me my attitude didn't get any better.  
Night came, it came suddenly in the mountains and I cast a weave around the camp as large as I could that made everything inside shielded from the rain and comfortably warm. Several Asha'man had asked me to teach them how to moderate the heat within the shield using Saidin and I had tried. Few mastered it, others nearly lit their tents on fire in the night, and others did set their tents on fire.  
Egwene was waiting in an empty room in a tower in Arad Doman I had found for this purpose. "Anything?" She was wearing a green silk gown with light blue embroidery along the hem and the Amyrlin's seven striped stole on her shoulders.  
"Rand is advancing steadily, tomorrow he will launch the first assault against the gathered Seanchan defence effort."  
"And the outcome?" This was our first meeting after I had left the rebel Aes Sedai, we had met the night after to arrange to meet once a week (seven days, weeks here seemed to be ten days) but nothing else was said. I had scared the Hall spitless and Egwene had been able to maneuver the Sitters into supporting several of her ideas while they were still stunned by my reaction.  
"Undecided," my mouth quirked into a smile and she frowned. She still tried to trick me into giving answers, whether they were direct or hidden in fancy talk I caught efforts to know what I knew from everyone now.  
"Taylor!" Her exasperated tone made it clear she was tired of my antics already, "Rand is driving the Seanchan back, is he going to suceed in pushing them all the way to Ebou Dar?"  
"Maybe, if I made a small change he might drive the Seanchan back across the ocean before he finally stops." Egwene's smile fell away. Her smile's came and went as fast as her good moods when I was around. Even in Cairhien, when I ignored her completely she had been all smiles until it was obvious I wasn't going to tell her anything.  
"Is there anything you can tell me that won't change things?" She was frustrated, it showed. Her dress had changed three times and she didn't seem to notice.  
"Sul'dam and damane that Rand captured will be delivered to Elayne when she reaches Caemlyn with the Kin, a few of the damane will be let off their leashes after a time. I'm not sure what will happen with the sul'dam or the rest of the damane. And nothing much will happen to your army while you wait." My broad smile was not pushed at all. I was happy to tell her what I could, but making Egwene frustrated just seemed more enjoyable than I thought it would. "I have to sleep now, it's been two hours and I'm going to need my wits about me tomorrow." I stepped back into my body before Egwene could ask me how I knew how long it had been.

I brought Davram Bashere back to where Rand was waiting during the attack, I watched as Rand drew Callandor and called lightning down on the Seanchan. I watched as the attack that he wanted directed at his enemies struck amoung his allies as well. I couldn't do anything about it, he had to be demoralized enough to retreat or he wouldn't turn back. I did throw a shield over most of the army, but neither Rand or Bashere knew that. Adley still died, and a large part of the army I wasn't able to shield died as well, but not near the amount had I not shielded the army. Rand sat in the rain, turning the Crown of Swords in his hands, looking at Callandor lying in the mud. His first loss, his first defeat at his own hands. Callandor lay dull in the mud, I itched to draw Saidin through it.

**A/N: For those of you who paid attention to my earlier confessions, this was another part of the books I have a hard time reading.**


	21. Chapter 21 : Assasination Attempt

Three days passed, Rand had returned to Cairhien and I had come with him. Taim had come that morning with news of Elayne tearing down Rand's banners and he had taken it hard. He had asked me if Elayne was better off without him and I had ignored his question. He would have to find out on his own, Min had cornered me a few minutes after Rand left and tried to force me to tell him to go to Elayne. Forcing me to do anything was near impossible, Min had no chance at all. What concerned me at the moment, was whether my presence would affect what happened to Rand when Dashiva and the four other Asha'man attacked him. The Aes Sedai had sworn fealty, had just left, and Rand was putting on his coat.  
"I mean to find out what Cadsuane wants," he announced. "She doesn't come to the palace every day because she likes a trip through the snow. Will you come with me, Min? Maybe you'll have a viewing." She was on her feet faster than any of those Aes Sedai. I rose with them, Morr didn't like me, he scowled.  
The six Maidens did not follow when Rand left the room, "Watch Cadsuane carefully, Min," he said. "And you, too, Morr. She's up to some Aes Sedai scheme, but burn me if I can see what. I don't know. There's."  
Rand's rooms exploded outwards, the resulting pressure throwing everyone but me off their feet. Not a hair on my head was affected by the explosion. I knew the attack was shortly after Rand left his rooms but I hadn't expected it that quickly!  
I heard voices but the ringing in my ears didn't let me hear what was said, all three of them were ten paces ahead of me so it would have been hard to overhear even if a gong wasn't sounding inside my skull. The ringing passed as I came closer to them, Min was just getting up. Rand and Morr were looking at each other, "Can I trust you, Morr?" Rand asked.  
Fedwin met his gaze openly. "With your life, my Lord Dragon," he said simply.  
"That's what I am trusting you with," Rand said. His fingers brushed Min's cheek, and then he stood abruptly. "Guard her with your life, Morr." Hard as steel, his voice. Grim as death. "If they're still in the Palace, they'll feel you try to make a gateway, and strike before you can finish. Don't channel at all unless you must, but  
be ready. Take her down to the servants' quarters, and kill anyone or anything that tries to get to her. Anyone! Taylor, I want you to go with them. Keey Min safe."  
"Morr and I will keep her safe." Grabbing hold of Saidar I opened a gateway and the three of us stepped through into the servants quarters. I had opened the gateway on a wall so no one would be hurt, and we went into the basements to hide Min from the attackers.  
"You knew!" Min was glaring at me, women always got indignant when they realized the looks they had learned and practiced so carefully all their lives had no effect on me, Min knew but glared all the same.  
"Of course, Rand will be fine." Relief flooded through her, it was a wonder that I could make her relieved. Cadsuane had to teach him something and nothing I did would stop her from doing that. She would teach him laughter and tears before he was allowed to die, Min had seen it.  
"I've seen auras around you," she said it so softly I almost didn't hear her, Morr was walking well ahead and couldn't have. "You will have a son and a daughter. I don't know who the mother will be."  
"Min," I didn't know what to say, really what could I? I would have kids! At twenty-one the idea of kids was something I could look forward to, but to know I would, to know I would have two. I realized I was gaping and closed my mouth. Min was smiling, a secret smile.  
"Now you tell me something, after this you'll have to tell me something before I'll tell you anything."  
I gaped again, Min was... I wanted to laugh hysterically. "Fine, but I can't give you anything like what you gave me." She nodded, "You are going to stay with Rand, he'll want to send you away but he loves you too much to do that. All three of you have an equal part of his heart, he loves none of you more than the other." She jumped into me and hugged me so fiercely I thought she was going to drive the air out of my lungs.  
"That was better," she whispered into my ear, and kissed my cheek before dropping off me. Her coat and britches were as tight as most teenagers would manage in my world, well, the world I had come from. I was begining to thing of this place as my home now.  
Morr found an abandoned room to hide in, and shortly after had gone mad. I was watching him carefully and shielded him the moment he grabbed for the blocks to build a tower. Holding him in my arms, I explained to Min what had happened. That was when Rand came in, and he left shortly after to get wine.  



	22. Chapter 22 : Stuff To Do

Rand has asked me to come with him and Min, somehow he heard about my skill with a blade and said he would need me soon. I knew exactly what he was going to do and stared at him until he muttered under his breath that he didn't really need me anyways. I did stop him before he left, and pulled him away from Min. "I'll be there when it counts, but I have a few things to do that can't be put off." He nodded, he was never suprised by my knowledge of future events anymore and accepted the fact as much as he did my ears. "What will you do, while I'm away?" Rand asked.  
"I'll wait, here for a few days and then in Caemlyn. I need to see how things are going with Elayne." Rand's good mood vanished, but at least he wasn't gloomy. "I also have a few women I need to check on."  
The two women were Cyndane and Moghedien. I had both of their cour'souvra but neither had come to me. Moridin must be keeping an exceptionally good farce going if he had kept them in the dark so far. Still in the impenitrable shield of the Power, they remained near my skin at all times. A weave kept them right by but did not allow them to touch my skin, and they were invisible besides so keeping them hidden wasn't to much of a problem.  
The problem with being able to channel, and remaining in a place where people knew you could, and having part of the building you were staying in blown apart by the Power, was that they kept a very close watch on you after that. Oh I never saw anyone staring at me, or the three Asha'man left in the Sun Palace, or the Aes Sedai, but there were always three servants in the corridors I walked through.  
Cairhien though, was still Cairhien. Because I was single and I had been away for a time many nobles thought I might be amenable to a 'lover'. A spy who happened to share my bed, and a woman who would find out first hand what was inside my skull. If I gave them a chance, which I didn't.  
"My Lord?" The pretty young woman in near black livery of Palace servants asked me again. I wanted to growl death threats but she was only a tool, not my enemy, and didn't deserve to be punished for the mechanisms of the Lords and Ladies who thought they could tie strings to me.  
"I'm afraid I will have to decline," scanning my brain for her name I found it, "Gracy, I would like to talk with you though. Perhaps we can arrange something for later." It was an easy dismissal and she took the hint. Only sixteen or I'd eat my boots! The Ladies, at least, remembered that I didn't rage at the younger girls.  
"If you're not too busy my Lord?" The ladies maid gave me a very suggestive look and gestured towards an empty room.  
"Would my Lord like a massage?"  
"My rooms are much more comfortable for, conversation."  
"If you would help me with my dress..."  
"No," was my response. "No," was my reaction to any woman approaching me in the hallways. I was proud of my ability to hold my temper, only three days and the nobility had thrown more women at me than I would have thought possible in three weeks!  
Honestly I was a touch flattered at the effort they put into the girls they sent me, I wasn't impressed, but the Ladies seemed to pick up on the fact that I didn't scream at younger women, and if they had a resemblance to the women of House Damodred I did speak with them for a time. It was known I had spent a large amount of time with Moiraine Damodred Aes Sedai, that must have been how the Aes Sedai knew to fake Moiraine for a hostage.  
The fourth day in Cairhien passed as uneventfully as the last three, no fewer than six women tried to bed me. When night came I ran back to my rooms, hoping I wouldn't run into anyone else. Opening the door to my room I just about fell into helpless tears when a girl in her shift rolled over on the bed. The room was lit by only one lamp that cast interesting shadows on the girl, and she was a girl, and left nothing to the imagination.  
"You said you wanted to talk later," she sounded frightened. It was Gracy, I had told her I wanted to talk later but this? Wait, frightened? Embracing the Power I had time to scan the room before a Myrddraal snaked out of the darkness and attacked. The blade, forged in the valley of Thakan'dar, would kill if it made a cut deep enough. I had no time to weave, no time to do anything but react. Jumping to the side, I kicked at the flat side of the blade. Knocking it up gave me the moment I needed and the Myrddraal was ripped from the Pattern as balefire tore through it. It's image seemed to reverse colors, then it was gone, leaving a purply after image where the bar of white flame had been. Gracy hadn't moved, she hadn't done anything to hide or get away from the Myrddraal. Was she tied down? I scanned the room again and found what I was looking for.  
"You've discovered Moridin's loss at last then?" It was a guess, two women in the room with a Myrddraal and neither had been screaming, but I was fairly certain of my guess.  
Moghedien's illlusion fell away from her and Gracy became the Spider. Cyndane's illusion dissapeared and she stepped out of the shadows. Moghedien was handsome bordering on beautiful, Cyndane was heart-wrenchingly beautiful. "You have our souls, Kel 'Aridavin."  
I touched the two cour'souvra, only days since I had wondered when they would come and now they had. Was I ta'veren too? Or did things just seem to go my way? "I don't suppose you would be willing to give them to us?" Moghedien's tone was partially pleading, partially commanding.  
If they weren't sworn to the Shadow, and I wasn't as confused as I could get over Moiriane, I might have taken advantage of this situation. As soon as the thought appeared I crushed it violently, I was NOT a pig! "You're correct. I won't give them to you." Moghedien's shoulders slumped in resignation, Cyndane seemed about ready to cry. Had Lanfear fallen so far? "I won't force you to do anything, however. I have no intention of making you come back to the Light, I would like you to make the attempt though, events have to remain much as they are planned to." The light of hope entered Cyndane's eyes.  
Moghedien looked wary, "You will allow us to go about our activities? Why would you allow us to move about freely?"  
"Be quiet Moghedien!" Cyndane's lovely voice was harsh, but even screaming she would sound lovely.  
"I will let you go free because I must, I would very much like to keep you under my eye but that would cause problems when I go to Caemlyn. Elayne and Nynaeve know you Moghedien, I won't have her putting an aidom on you again." Moghedien's face paled slightly, Cyndane looked contemptuously at the Spider. "And I know you don't want to meet with some foxy friends of yours Cyndane." She paled, if it was possible with such a cream colored face, farther than Moghedien had.  
Gesturing for them to keep silent, I opened my coat and undid my shirt laces. A look of disgust passed across Cyndane's face before she regained her composure and Moghedien paled again. They thought I wanted to! Releasing the weave, I pulled the delicate wire framed jems from under my shirt. Both women drew in a deep breath. "Just so you know I have them," I put them back and reatattched the weaves. "There are a few things I want of you though, a request and then I'll have a few questions. When I caress your cour'souvra you will come to me, but only if you can do it discreetly. If I summon you and you are meeting with the other Forsaken you may wait until the meeting is at an end. If I caress it more than once the request is more urgent and you should make excuses to leave but other than that I expect you to arrive soon." Cyndane sagged with relief, it was a relatively simple task and I made it easier by not demanding they attend me the moment I touched their cour'souvra. "Now I have several questions and you will answer them, after that I expect you to go back to whatever you have been doing except that you don't need to play to Ishamael's tune any more."  
They answered eagerly. I told them I wasn't going to kill them, that was all the incentive they needed. 

Caemlyn the beautiful, or was that America? The city was beautiful though, all the time I had been in this world I had taken things as they were. Never taking the time to really appreciate the simple things, like the clothes. Bizzare, strange, weird, and gaudy were a few ways to describe what the clothing looked like. With unmatching colors stripped through dark or nearly dark colors it was almost eye wrenching just walking through the streets! Green dresses stripped with yellow, blue stripped with red, worst was the embroidery and lace that made no sense at all. I supposed it made some sense, it had to or these people would have realized what crazy designs they were walking about in. Only common folk had the right of things, one or two colors for one or two pieces of clothing. A brown shirt and maybe a lighter brown pair of pants, grey was popular and so was blue. Anyone else was crazy stupid with their clothes. After the first few days when I was having clothes made or buying coats or britches I had to make sure that there was as little embroidery or stripes as I could manage. I just shook my head at the Cairhienen display of House colors on clothing, Tairen's weren't much better. Andorans were less flamboyant about their clothes, but less didn't mean they didn't do it at all.  
Elayne was wearing a red gown with firedrops and blue saphires strewn about it in some pattern I didn't try to follow, and had a ter'angreal in her hand that she was trying to study while talking to Aviendha and eating at the same time. "I really don't see why rings are so complex, it's as if the smaller the ter'angreal are the harder they are to make."  
"It's not that simple," I was holding the black rod that inflicted as much pain as you wanted it to and whipping it experimentally, "most of those rings are designed for something complex. Have Aviendha tell you what they do." Aviendha jumped when I suggested that, but she knew I was aware of more things than anyone else and a considering look replaced the look of mild suprise.  
"What do you mean?" Elayne had dropped the ring and looked at Aviendha, "Do you know what he's talking about sister?"  
"No Elayne, but Taylor knows many things about both of us I wish he did not." Red began creeping up her cheeks. I knew the exact details of how she had bedded Rand up to the dirty deed.  
"She can read ter'angreal, I'm not sure how it works or how she does it but it will help your studying time considerably. She can tell you what it does and you can figure out how it does it." For a few more days at least, but I didn't say that outloud. Letting Elayne know she was going to get pregnant wasn't something I intended to do. I did intend to come back to tell her a few things about pregnancy though, even if she didn't listen understanding why she couldn't have wine was better than just being denied it.  
Elayne and Aviendha shared a startled look, Elayne would most certainly have a flash of jealousy but but would viciously pummel it into nothingness. "Truly? I can do that?" Avienda asked me.  
I lifted the black knife from her belt pouch with Air that would have started the revalation much later but I didn't see how this would harm anything. "You know what this does, or suspect, and you're right. I'll make another for Elayne, and several more if I have the time but this is a difficult ter'angreal."  
Aviendha glowed with the Power and tried to snatch it back, her flow of Air wrapped around mine and tugged it towards her. I smiled and the red haired Aiel woman glared at me when it didn't budge an inch. Elayne was looking wonderously at Aviendha, "Do you know what this means Aviendha? Most of the ter'angreal in the Tower go unused because no one knows what they do, the ter'angreal in Cairhien go untouched for the same reason! The ter'angreal in Tear, and the ones here, we could find out what each one does." She appeared so giddy I wondered if she wasn't already pregnant.

Nynaeve and Lan came walking around the corner of the Tarisan Palace gardens, Nynaeve in a dress suitable for Ebou Dar if a bit modest with a low neckline and a fur trimmed cloak that only pointed out her low neckline. Lan was wearing dark clothes with a dark cloak, appropriate for this time of the year, he and Nynaeve noticed me at the same time. Nynaeve claimed she was always busy with the Kin, and she was busy with them sometimes. Many would have run away if it weren't for her and Alise, but she spent more time with Lan than at anything else. Tugging her braid violently, I must have taken the spot she wanted to sit with Lan, she spoke to Lan quietly and they walked past me in silence.  
Snow covered the ground, tracks covered the pathways in the garden but for the most part it was covered in white. White was such a calming color, yellow too but I didn't want to see yellow in the snow. I chuckled softly but no one was around to ask me what was funny. I sat like that for a long time, and I would have been freezing if it weren't for my ter'angreal. I watched other people pass by, mostly couples, and I felt an intense pang of lonliness. It had been so long since I had seen my family, but I was always busy doing something so I hardly remembered them. Now I wasn't doing anything, I had nothing to fill my mind against the pain of being seperated from the people I had grown up with. Both of my parents and my brothers and sisters had protested against me going to Europe, I didn't have anyone to go with me and I had never been out of the country before. I was too stubborn to agree with them, and went on my own. If I hadn't, I would never have gone to the museum and seen the statue of the Dragon Reborn, I would never have come to this world, and I wouldn't have met Moiraine. Thinking of her hurt too, but if I lived long enough I would see her again.

I asked Elayne, Birgitte and Aviendha to take time out of their shedules to speak with me. I had spent the last nine days enjoying my time at the Queen's Blessing and seeing the sights of Caemlyn when Elayne didn't want to talk. Elayne, Min, and Aviendha had bonded Rand but I made no mention of it, and I didn't stop to speak with Rand even though I found out later that he had come to speak with me as well. I had asked Elayne to come to speak with her about her pregnancy.  
"You wanted to speak with me Taylor?" Normally it was her who asked for a meeting, I had left a message for her to meet me yesterday with Birgitte so she and Aviendha came in behind the Daughter-Heir. She had entered after two members of her bodyguard had searched the room, Elayne trusted me but they wouldn't take chances if the Creator had asked Elayne to an audience.  
"I did," I was still standing when she sat down gracefully. "I know you're pregnant," she flushed slightly, she knew that I knew who the father was. "Min had a viewing, but unfortunately for you Birgitte and Aviendha lost most of the night to oosquai." Both of them blushed slightly, Birgitte might have because Elayne was nearly scarlett now. Embracing Saidin I wove a warding around the room against eavesdropping, no weaves were cut but three tried to listen in the second after I put up the ward. "You will have two, a boy and a girl." Elayne's smile was so bright I got lost in it for a moment, Aviendha and Birgitte were smiling as well, Birgitte was smiling like a cat who found cream.  
"A boy and girl! Oh that's wonderful, the Daughter-Heir and the Prince!" She moderated her tone and brought her excitement down a few notches, "If I take the throne."  
"I also thought I would explain a few things about your pregnancy, don't look at me like that Aviendha!" The woman had glared the second I mentioned knowing anything about babies. I had taken Bio 30, I knew more about the human body than Semirhage. "Wine first." Birgitte and Aviendha both scowled, Elayne brightened a bit. "Wine makes you drunk because of something called alcohol that is created when the wine is alowed to ferment, alcohol is terrible for you." Birgitte's smile flashed for a moment before realizing I had said it was terrible for Elayne, not just her babies. "It's especially dangerous for your babies, it will stunt their growth and may cause them to be retarted." All three had gone pale, they knew I had knowledge of future events and many other things but I was being so matter of fact it was hard to imagine I was making this up.  
"Only wine?" Birgitte asked, "What about tea?" Elayne glared at the woman but concern painted her face as well.  
"As far as I know tea won't hurt her or her babies, I don't like tea myself but that's my choice. Wine isn't all, anything that can get you drunk has alcohol in it and will damage your babies. If you want to test Min's viewing I dare you to get drunk more than once, in my world there are more babies born deformed or brain damaged because the mother drank wine or other alcoholic drinks when pregnant than should happen. Stay away from wine or ale or anything else like them." Elayne nodded, now she wouldn't be so sulky about wine. "Another thing, is food." Birgitte must have assumed I was going to back her up on this point as well because Elayne glared daggers at her before I could continue. "Your current diet is a waste of time. Eating healthy is always a good thing, but you two," I looked at Birgitte and Aviendha, "are taking it way too far. You can eat meats and other things, treats if you remember not to overendulge, just remember that your baby is eating what you are eating." Aviendha and Birgitte both looked a bit crestfallen, they must have enjoyed making Elayne eat the bland food so far.  
"You're a fountain of knowledge Taylor," Elayne was as happy as Birgitte had been before, "what else do you know of pregnancy?" The fact that I was a man didn't seem to bother them anymore because they questioned me about the subject for over three hours. I was hard pressed to dig up what I knew about pregnancy after the first hour, and it was darn near painful by the end of our 'interrogation'.  
The four of us were in a tight group, Elayne was bouncing up and down with excitement over learning that women in my world got bizzare cravings for foods and usually got them, whatever the combination. Birgitte had been hesitant to take me at my word for some things, but Aviendha was listening avidly. She wanted Rand's babies too. She would have them, four at once! By the time I was done I felt wrung out, of all the things I expected to happen this was low on the list.  
"Thank you Taylor," Elayne had risen and Aviendha had gotten up off the floor. Birgitte looked thoughtful, probably considering what I had said about alcohol.  
As she turned to leave, I remembered the second reason I had asked her to see me, "Elayne," she turned around and her eyes widened as I held out an exact replica of Mat's ter'angreal. "It took some time, but I figured it could be an early gift." The silver foxhead medallion was just a piece of metal now, the eye of the fox was the ancient symbol for Aes Sedai: the Flame of Tar Valol and the Dragon's Fang. Elayne embraced Saidar on her first try, it was already difficult for her to grasp it every time, and she almost dropped it, it must have gone ice cold.  
"I can't Weave with it in my hands!" Elayne immediately turned her entire attention on the medallion and I was forgotten. Hopefully, and I fervently prayed it would be so, I hadn't done something stupid by doing that.  
"Are you leaving then?" Brigitte asked me.  
"I am, I need to go to Ebou Dar." I channeled, and a gateway opened a hairs width above the floor.


	23. Chapter 23 : Search and Rescues

**A/N: A song in my church hymn book has a certain phrase, "Have I done any good in the world today?" Well Taylor goes and does his good deed(s) for the day in this chapter.**

Rand was in Far Madding, it would be nearly ten days before Padan Fain would send a message to Rand telling him where to find Gedwyn and Torval, but I needed to be around Mat. Partly because I wanted to see how well he was doing as Tylin's pet and partly because I wanted to see Tuon. A good deal of the reason I was here was to stop the Gholam from killing Tylin, that I would stop if it killed me. I knew the way to the Tarisan Palace, but with the streets so crowded it took nearly three hours before I came in sight of Mol Hara Square. It was nearing nightfall and I really didn't want to go to the Palace. If I arrived now, Tylin would recognize me and Mat would probably change his plans to rescue the Aes Sedai to mainly depend on me. My being around would only complicate things and I really wanted a few days away from adventure. The inn, the Yellow Badger, was a homely establishment. Nearly ever inn in the city was jammed full but this one seemed to have avoided notice. I hid my ears with illusion for obvious reasons, and was looking around the tavern when I saw someone I hadn't expected to ever see again. Isendre. The Darkfriend turned along with many others to see who had entered and her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she recognized me. I held her gaze for a moment, then turned to speak with the approaching innkeeper.

Arranging to stay at the Yellow Badger, such a stupid name, was more costly than I had first anticipated. Inns I had stayed in before were a quarter of the price and three or four times better than this inn. I payed the ammount, grudgingly, and took a seat while I waited for my meal. The barmaids flirted in the Ebou Dari fashion, so they exposed as much skin as it was possible to do and still retain 'some' of their secrets. I watched Isendre discreetly, she was with a large man who appeared to be a trader or merchant. I had one of the barmaids get me some water, which had some of the patrons closer to me raising their eyebrows. With the Seanchan in the city, drinking away your problems was one of the solutions the citizens turned to and drinking water in an inn was uncommon in and of itself. There were three Seanchan in the inn, I was listening to accents and those were all I could count, and they seemed interested in watching the woman on a table near the hearth singing her heart out to a small troupe of performers about a girl who stole the heart of a Tairen High Lord.

Considering the jovial nature of the song there was little laughter but the atmosphere was friendly enough. Isendre looked as though she was trying to decide whether she should run from me or to me.

The soup that was served was bland, and hardly worth what I payed for it, but I ate it anyway. Spooning in the stuff, I thought it was supposed to be beef, Isendre leaned over to her hulking companion and then began swaying towards where I was sitting. I watched her from the corner of my eye until she was almost next to me before I turned away from my soup. She managed to speak in a quaking voice, "I, uh, h-hardly expected to see you here."

"I didn't expect to find myself in Ebou Dar either, but circumstances brought me here and so I came. I would have thought you would gone somewhere out of the way, rather than the staging point for the Seanchan invasion." Several heads turned at my mention of the Seanchan, but I hadn't said anything interesting so I was ignored once again. "Who is your friend?"

Isendre cast a startled look over her shoulder, she was very much on edge, "Oh him," when she saw he wasn't coming to get her she relaxed visibly, "I found him when I entered the city this morning. I don't know his name."

"Is he one of your old friends?" I pulled out one of the chairs at my small table and she sat down easily.

"No, I haven't seen any of those friends since we met last. I'm glad to be away from that lifestyle." I doubted that she hadn't seen any Darkfriends, she was too noticeable to have gotten away from her oaths to the Shadow easily.

Isendre seemed to notice I didn't believe her, fine beads of sweat pearled at the top of her forehead despite the slight chill that ran through the inn every time a gust of wind came off the ocean, "I'll be in the city for a few days, and then I'll be leaving. If you would prefer, I won't bother you again."

The option of freedom stumped the delicate woman, did she want my attention? I hated it, but I was extremely handsome, and it had it's benefits when trying to get information out of women who were easily impressed by my looks. Getting any information that was usable out of Isendre might not be possible, but if she did have something I didn't know about anything that could be an advantage would be a must. I looked over at where her hulking toy sat glowering at us and taking swigs of whatever it was he was drinking.

Holding her wine between her first two fingers, Isendre rested her other hand on my own that was holding my cup, "I think I would like to get to know you better." Her companion twitched when he saw her touch me, "I hope you won't stay away while you are here." As she rose, her hand lingered on mine and then gently slipped away, maintaining contact as long as possible. I shivered slightly at the loss of contact. Even knowing what she was, what she had done, I was still wishing I could take her back to my room.

Damane raided the Yellow Badger the day Mat was going to run for it, apparently there had been channeling in the inn that morning. I had finally gotten sick and tired of the rats I found in my rooms and destroyed three, then warded the establishment against rats after that. It wouldn't have been noticed, but the ward was too strong and rats left so quickly that the inn's customers had raised questions that led to the raid. It was cold outside, grey clouds boiled overhead promising rain eventually but not now. I was alone in my room, unwilling to go to the common room and play at being ignorant of Isendre's attempts to work herself into my good graces. Blood and ashes but that woman was amazing at what she did! Her persistence reminded me of Egwene, and she was a lot harder to simply ignore than the farm girl turned Aes Sedai. The windows in my room were dirty, a trivial matter but it was things like that I noticed most when waiting.

Waiting was probably the worst thing I could have been doing now, the city was in an uproar over the murders the Gholam had committed and Suroth would return tonight with Tylin. Strange how events seemed to organize themselves in my head, I had never been able to figure out when things were happening in relation to the other people the books centered on but it was easy now. Tonight, I would save a queen. "I bought you something Taylor," sweeping into the room, Isendre's floral perfume filled the air and seemed to brighten the room. I groaned silently, she had made a habit of entering without asking ever since I had let her in three days before. She had a small wrapped bundle in her arms, small enough to fit in her hand so it was probably some kind of jewelry. I didn't much like jewelry, the two earrings I had were mismatched, and only my ter'angreal decorated my arm. The other angreal and ter'angreal I had found during my search for Moiraine were with Elayne, and I only needed my earring angreal and ter'angreal anyways. She layed the bundle before me and waited for me to open it, her eyes were bright and eager but she had the same expression on her face most of the time. Her pleasant demeanor was infectious, no matter that I wasn't feeling all that 'peppy' at the moment.

Making a show of groaning before I sat up, she pouted prettily and I tried to remember that she had probably been twisting men around her fingers like a Domani woman as a Darkfriend for most of her adult life and earlier. Being in such close contact with her, and all the time too, was wearing away my resistance to her advances. I knew what she wanted, protection. I would give it if she asked, but she wanted me to feel protective of her and to do that she thought she had to sleep with me.

Opening the bundle slowly, I revealed a wooden box that opened with a twist and pull. Lifting the lid let what was inside catch the light. A ring, but made of cuendillar! It was a signet ring displaying a woman's hand palm up.

"It made me think of you, I was walking by the rings and a bar of sunlight broke through the clouds and settled on the shop before disappearing again.." I rolled my eyes, how perfect, "The sunlight glinting off so much metal made me look at the display and that one jumped out at me. Two silver marks and four coppers," the man mustn't have known it was cuendillar or it would have cost her a great deal more. She seemed pleased with herself and I wasn't sure exactly what she wanted me to do with it. "Well?" She asked. "Put it on!"

"Thank you Isendre," I said before picking the ring out of the box, I slipped it on the first finger of my right hand. Images exploded in my mind, rings being presented to four men and seven women by a shapeless form. One of the men looked at me and nodded before taking the ring. The others turned to look at me and nodded before taking there own rings. A ring was extended towards me by the shapeless form, and I knew I was supposed to have the ring. Reaching out with a trembling hand I took the ring from the figure and placed it on the same finger as I had with the actual ring. It was my ring, I had owned this ring! I knew I had, but. The men and women who had taken the rings stood around me, I was part of their number. All had pointed ears and were exceedingly beautiful, the women looked slightly sad when they looked at me, the men appeared proud.

"There were eleven, each presented with a ring." I whispered, not truely aware of what was going on around me anymore. One of the women seemed about to cry, she raised a hand towards me and mouthed something. Deshuvekil. She was crying and reaching out to me as if she could touch me, I reached out to her with my hand, we were close enough to touch, and she vanished! The others appeared not to notice, and the vision faded away. "She knew I was there, she knew my name and she reached out for me. She was crying, why would she cry for me? Who is she?"

"Who are you talking about?" Isendre's voice shattered the still fading vision and I jerked upright. Who was the woman? I felt as if I should know her, like I had met her before but couldn't remember her. Isendre was asking me something again. Who was the woman who cried for me? Isendre hit me with something but I hardly felt it, who was that woman?

There was a yell outside my door and I snapped out of whatever kind of daze I had been in. It was dark outside but the faint glow of a sinking sun was still visible, when it broke through the clouds. Lots of time before Mat began his plan. Isendre had gone, I didn't know when but I was glad she had. The yelling increased in volume, two men arguing over something. Reaching out with my hand, I looked at my ring. It was mine! I knew it was, I just couldn't remember when I had owned it. The yelling stopped, and the door to the room exploded inwards with a loud crack and three men rushed in. It had been locked and whoever had kicked it in was very strong, but strength alone would not save them.

"It's 'im!" The one who spoke was a grubby fat mat with a bald spot on his head, his squinted eyes looked menacing and he held a cudgel. The two men that had come in before him were complete opposites, one tall the other short, one lanky the other large, one with a squat nose the other with an eagles beak, one holding a knife with a black blade, the other holding ropes. I reached into my sleeves and before anyone had thought of moving the two men had daggers growing out of their throats. The third man had moved slightly to the side of the door after he had entered and I embraced Saidin and threw him against the wall with the Power. A gag of Air filled his mouth before he could scream, his two cronies were drowning in their own blood and unable to make any noises other than bloody gurgling. The black bladed knife that had fallen from the tall man's hand landed with a hiss on the floor boards and when it settled on the wood there was a trail of smoke from where the metal touched the floor. A knife from Thakan'dar! Darkfriends knew where I was, had Isendre betrayed me? There wasn't time to decide, I had to move fast now. No time to waste staying here, if I got to the Wandering Woman sooner than I planned it wouldn't change anything other than sitting with Joline and her Warders for a while. I cringed slightly when I thought about that, sitting in the same room with a hostile Aes Sedai for a few hours at least? I shuddered as I walked past the man and tied off the flows holding him there. The Seanchan might be looking for me after this but it didn't matter anymore.  
"I'll see you gentlemen later," I told them cheerily, the lie so obvious that I found if funny and giggled softly to myself as I walked out of the inn. I didn't have many clothes, and I had made a stasis box to store them in. Such a handy device! The box was no larger than a rubik's cube but it could hold whatever I wanted it to. Four days in Ebou Dar had given me time to collect the items I would need before making it, and it took two days to 'remember' how to do it.

Walking swiftly, as swiftly as possible in the press of bodies in the streets, I traveled down a memorized route to the the Mol Hara Square to a certain Seanchan infested inn. I knew where the inn was and how to get there from the Yellow Badger, but the alleys were faster and I passed through them more often than I was on the actual streets. The alleys were cleaner now than when I had first arrived, the Seanchan were efficient if nothing else. Mol Hara Square came into view ten minutes after I left the Yellow Badger, who ever had painted the sign had never seen a badger though, it's face looked more like a porcupine's than a badger. The Wandering Woman was easy to find, and pushing open the doors of the inn I was assaulted by delicious fumes from the meals that had been cooked for the patrons. Fish was predominant, but there were other smells that reminded me just how long it had been since I had eaten properly.  
The inn was full of Seanchan, mostly high ranking officers. A man in Deathwatch Guard red and green armor with three black stripes on his armor identified him as Furyk Karede, the man who would rescue the High Lady Tuon from Thom Merrilin's clutches. I smiled to myself before a serving woman approached with a stern expression on her face. She was pretty, with her low cut Ebou Dari dress that exposed much more of her bosum than the rest of the world thought was acceptable.

"I'm afraid we have no rooms, my Lord," I was dressed well enough to be a minor lord or well to do merchant. She smiled weakly at me, I wanted to roll my eyes and sigh. I hated being pretty!

"More wine!" A slurred Seanchan accent called out, and another serving maid ran to fill his goblet.

"I don't want a room miss," I saw Setalle Anan come out of the kitchens. "I want to speak with the innkeeper, I have some information for her." I said all that in a low consperiotory tone. She grinned at me now, it made her look lovely.

"You won't get a room out of her even if you give her a king's fortune, but I'll bring her over." She swayed off towards where Mistress Anan had stopped to speak with a Sul'dam. It was a very deliberate sway, and she looked over her shoulder once to see if I was watching her. I leered at her and she bared her teeth at me, realizing that I was playing with her. Exchaning words quickly with the flirting barmaid, the innkeeper moved towards me but had to speak with a woman with two bars of rank on her armor.

By the time she had made it over to where we stood she had spoken with three more patrons and had to refuse four others. "Frielle tells me you have some information for me, I don't recognize you and I don't have rooms for rent if that's what you're after." The courtesy of Ebou Dar had slipped of late, with the Seanchan.

"Mistress Anan," I was using a normal tone but soft enough that even the officers closest to us wouldn't be able to overhear, "I understand you've given shelter to my cousin Joline." Her eyes narrowed, looking me up and down before going back to staring into my eyes. "Mat Cauthon told me that you'd grabbed her off the street and I'd like to speak with her if it's possible." At mention of Mat, even though I hadn't even seen him since arriving in the city, she relaxed visibly and huslted me into the kitchens talking just loud enough to be overheard about my supposed cousin she was nursing back to health from a nasty injury.

Once in the kitchens, the aroma of cooking food made my belly rumble loudly, she opened a door to the cellar and I heard movement from below. Fen and Blaeric, Joline's Warders, would be arranging themselves so they could ambush whoever entered. I embraced Saidin, no need to scare the woman half out of her wits before I was even able to explain myself. Not embracing Saidar was also a good way to avoid Seanchan of course. The cellar was much as I had expected, large, with shelves for everything from casks of wine to smoked fish. Unconsciously I prepared how to defend myself from the two Warders and eased the replacement daggers I had slipped into my sleeve sheaths. I hadn't bothered to grab the two in the would-be assassin's throats.

"Joline," Mistress Anan said quietly, "Lord Mat sent him." I felt a tension leave the air and the Warders moved into the open. When they saw me they resumed their tense stance but only my eye caught it. They noticed that I had marked them and they stiffened further, few people could make a Warder nervous but apparently I had done it because Joline embraced the Power.

Thom Merrilin was also in the basement, and when he saw me he just about choked on his long moustache's, "Taylor! What are you doing here?"

"I have some interest in the activities going on tonight Thom, I think Mat will be glad to have me along for the ride if nothing else, I wish I could have seen how Tylin is treating him."

The Warder's began drawing their weapons, I had just told them Mat hadn't sent me, but Thom began laughing and they relaxed again, "He has gotten himself into a bit of a situation hasn't he? Well I won't argue if you're going to help us, your um, talents will be useful."

Mistress Anan decided that the situation was back under control and went back up to the kitchen, but cast a wary glance from me to the Aes Sedai before we were out of her line of sight.

"Who is this Master Merrilin? I do not believe we have ever met before." Joline Maza, a Green sister (two Warders were a bit of a tip off eh?) with a temper, if any didn't it would have been a surprise, asked Thom as she glided towards me.

"Taylor is a friend of Mat's, he helped us find the Bowl of the Winds so that Elayne and Nynaeve could repair the damage the Dark One has done to the weather," Thom told her, which didn't seem to satisfy her curiosity.

"Well, just Taylor, I am Joline Maza Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah." She waited for some kind of reaction to her title, most in the world were overawed by Aes Sedai and they had gotten a bit big-headed because of it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Joline Sedai," I could charm if the need arose, but I hadn't got much practice lately.  
"How did you meet Master Merrilin, I am curious as to how you assisted their efforts?"

"I traveled with them from Salidar, and before that I was in the company of the Dragon Reborn." Joline's mouth tightened visibly, her Warders got tense again. I shrugged my shoulders and leaned against a wooden support beam, "I've been busy lately though, I was in Caemlyn earlier with Elayne and Nynaeve. They made it Thom, and I spent some time with the Aes Sedai in Murandy before that."

"How?" Joline's eyes had widened with each new place I claimed to have gone, I wasn't sure, but I figured I had just told her I had traveled a looooong way in what I played off as a little while.

"I can channel my dear Aes Sedai," Joline reached for the Power but I slammed a shield around her to stop her."I mean no harm to you Joline or your Warders, it's faster this way than trying to explain myself. I need to wait here for Egeanin and then I can get into the Palace. After that, well if things go as I expect you should be out of the city and out of harms way before the Seanchan realize they've lost a marath damane and two captured Aes Sedai. I'm afraid I won't be answering your questions tonight, but I might see you later and we can talk then."

Joline made a waving gesture at me and I lowered the ward I had set up after she wouldn't stop asking me questions, "Can you hear me?" I nodded and she blinked, "Who are you?" She was being civil!

After I released the shield around her, and she determined that I was telling the truth and I wasn't going to do anything, the Green had been badgering me the whole two hours we had been down here. After ten minutes I put up a warding to stop from hearing her and thanked the Light that it was possible to do that. But she was being civil now, she was trying, so I answered, "My name is Taylor, I am a friend of the Dragon, Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybarra as well as Thom Merrilin here." I opened a gateway on 'my' side of the cellar and she gasped aloud, "This is how I've been getting around so quickly, Traveling has been rediscovered Aes Sedai, and I use it to it's fullest extent."

Silence reigned after that, Joline seemed unable to process everything that had happened and her Warders couldn't get within five strides of me without being forcably returned to their Aes Sedai's side. I played with Weaves I knew while Thom tried his best to pass the time and entertain the Aes Sedai and her Warders. The door to the cellar opened an hour later, three hours after dark, to admit Mistress Anan and Egeanin. The Seanchan woman didn't appear ruffled by my presence, and in short order we were hudling against the rain on our way to the stable gates.

"What do you mean, you adapted the plan?" Mat demanded, raking his hands through his hair. "I had everything laid out! Who are those others out there?"

"The people from the inn," Egeanin said impatiently. "For one thing, I need a proper entourage to look right for any street patrols. Those two—Warders?—are muscular fellows; they make excellent lantern bearers. For another, I didn't want to risk missing them in this blow. Better that we are all together from the start." Her head turned, following his glances at the sul'dam. "These are Seta Zarbey and Renna Emain. I suspect they hope you'll forget those names after tonight."

"And the other one?" Mat looked at me quickly.

"He did not say," the Seanchan slurring of words was enough to make me want to pull out the cotton I must have in my ears.

"Mat," I said, pushing up my cowl. He jerked when he saw me.

"What are you doing here! Burn me but I thought you were with Elayne! What happened?"

Making a sweeping gesture I caught him with his mouth open, "Elayne is in Andor, and we don't have time to doddle. If we're going to be on our way I suggest we go." He saw the sense of that, and he led Egeanin and myself back into the Palace. On the third floor where Tylin and the honored guests would be staying I spoke up, we had been deathly quiet in the hallways, "A der'sul'dam is going to drop in on us, I hope you can talk quickly Egeanin." She flinched at that, giving me an odd stare. I stayed down at the entrance to the damane kennels, waiting patiently for the der'sul'dam to show up and complicate matters. I could have turned her away, but that would have encouraged Seta and Renna to run away.

Mat slipped down the stairs a little after the der'sul'dam went up, he glanced at me and started running. "I hope you know what you're doing," Mat hissed at me before going into Tylin's rooms, "because nothing can go wrong!"

Tylin was waiting for him, I waited outside until he returned looking a little flustered. "Did piglet have fun tying up his mistress?" Mat scowled at me so fiercely I wondered if I should pretend to fall over. When he walked away he was muttering darkly under his breath and tapping his ashandarei on his shoulders.

"Everybody bloody knows!" Was all I could understand.

Slipping into the rooms, I closed the door quietly. I was content to wait in the sitting room and not disturb Tylin at all but the Gholam might not come in this way and I had to stop it from killing her. It was a large bedroom, with a huge four poster bed and a jewled clock above the lit fireplace. Tylin had wriggled out from under the bed, probably just to see if she could, and froze when I entered. I bowed before I introduced myself, even though she had already met me. "My name is Taylor, Queen Tylin. I don't know if you recognize me but I am a friend of Mat, and I'll be staying here for a little while. I hope I don't cause you any inconvenience but I won't leave until I have finished my business here." She grunted from behind her gag, but Mat had done too good a job and she was unable to do any more than that. "Mat will make it out of the city alright," I told her quietly a while later, "he's going to make a clean escape." And he's going to take the Daughter of the Nine Moons, cause all kinds of disruption in the city and put all the Blood on edge, marry her just for fun, and go off on some mad chase to find Moiraine. I didn't know the outcome of that other than it would be successful, Moiraine would help Rand in the Last Battle so Mat had to succeed.

Yawning, I only just caught movement at the door. Watching in fascination, I stared as the Gholam squeezed under the door and filled back out into the shape of a man the second it was past the gap in the floor. It stood up and looked around the room quickly, then it's head snapped back to stare at me. "My master won't be pleased," it was talking to itself, "I can't fight this one." It took a step back and I lashed out with the Power, it's hand erupted into a fireball and it would have started screaming if I hadn't gagged it with the Power.

Weaving quickly, it wasn't long before a pillar of fire rolled madly on the ground, trying to douse the flames burning it's body. Nothing it bumped against, or even the floor was scorched or even browned by the flames, a shield around it kept the flames from doing damage to anything but this Shadowspawn. Only its head was not on fire, and the mouth of the Gholam was open in a silent scream as whatever it was made of was being burned by the flames. I had no pity for this abomination, it's one purpose was to assassinate Aes Sedai and I didn't find it hard to imagine how many it had killed before being sealed in a stasis box.

Tylin was shrieking into her gag, terrified by what was going on. The Gholam looked just like a man, Tylin probably thought I was torching a servant. It took a long time to die, longer than I expected. More than ten minutes passed before the thing stopped its silent howling and thrashing. I could have incinerated it instantly but making it die painfully seemed the best way to go about things. The ruined twisted black corpse still lay in the shield I had woven around it, not really touching the floor or anything else so nothing turned black from the char.

"This thing was going to kill you Tylin," she had stopped trying to call for help and she was quick enough to catch that I had named it a thing. "It was the Gholam. An assassin for the Shadow, it was hunting for Mat and it would have found you easy prey under the bed." She shivered uncontrollably, then lay still, "I am going to have to leave you here, it wouldn't do for Mat to go to all the trouble of tying you up only to release you before a servant finds you. The Light's blessing on you." I opened the door to her room and hoped that I had done the right thing. This wasn't something like speeding the end of a battle, I had prevented a queen from being killed. There had to be ramifications from this, but I couldn't let her die when I had the power to stop it.

Slipping up stairs as quietly as I could, I found myself in the attic of the Palace, where the Seanchan kept the Damane. I had a set goal in mind, shield the damane that would fight the Atha'an Miere and help the Sea Folk get to their ships. Opening the first door, I saw a pale skinned woman sleeping soundly, and shielded her quickly. I advanced steadily, when I found one of the Sea Folk I closed the door before they could see who I was. The shields would hold for a very long time, I had made the knots on each as complicated as I could because I wouldn't let the Seanchan use these women. If they were ever to be freed, I shook my head at the thought of rehabilitating them into society.

Once that was done, I went back to the first room I knew had one of the Atha'an Miere and waited. I wasn't sure how much time I had before this woman decided to act but it was before Mat was outside of the city. Humming to myself softly, I heard the rustling of movement inside the room and waited for her to emerge. The door opened silently, and the woman began to creep out of her room. My hand clamped over her mouth and I pulled her against my chest as fast as I could manage.

"Be silent Nestelle," I hissed into her ear, "I'm here to help you." I knew her name so she stopped her attempts to wriggle away. "I was here with Mat, I'm going to help you and your sisters get out of here." She relaxed in my grip and I took my hand from her mouth, "Now hurry, get your sisters and don't worry about the others, I've taken care of them."

Following my instructions exactly, the near black skinned woman didn't speak at all as she went from door to door removing the aidom from the Sea Folk prisoners. As each emerged, they moved towards me and I had them all remain as quiet as it was possible. A few whispered excitedly to one another now that they were free.

Something was bothering me, and I wasn't sure what it was. Looking around at the assembled Wind Finders, I remembered. In a hushed voice, I asked, "Are there any others who have not been broken? Any Ebou Dari that will fight the Seanchan?"

There was a pause in all the chatter, then silent discussions passed between the women, "Two," one said, and gestured to where the Aes Sedai had been.

"They are already gone," I told who ever had spoken, "any others? I won't leave another woman to the Seanchan if she will fight them."

I waited until the last of the Wind Finders had been freed and then hung my head sadly, no other women could be saved? The Sea Folk women waited for me to move, and I realized with a start that I was going to be leading them to battle! "Where are the rest of your people?"

"The Rahad," answered about ten of the women.

Embracing Saidin, I couldn't risk Saidar because there might be other damane around, I opened a gateway large enough that it stretched from one side of the hallway to the other. Large enough so that all of the women could pass through very quickly. I had made the gateway on the side of a building so that it would be harder to spot, but I stuck my head out anyway just to check and see if the coast was clear. No soldiers, good.

"Listen," I said to the women closest to me, "this leads to the entrance to the Rahad, how far are the rest of the Atha'an Miere from here?"

"Not far," one said. Others agreed with her and I was glad that they didn't have time to wonder about the gateway I had created. They would learn about it soon enough.

"I don't have to tell you to be careful and try not to use Saidar?" All of them shook their heads in affirmation.

"Alright, go. I'll stay here and deal with anyone who might sound the alarm."

"What is your name?" The closest woman asked me. In the dark I rolled my eyes, if I had to spit and shake hands with every woman...

"My name is Taylor. Now go, we don't have time for ceremony." I hustled them through, and in good order there was no one in the hallways. Nothing bad had happened, good. I closed the gateway and was going to open another when I heard muffled cries coming from one of the rooms. Curious, I walked over and pressed my ear against the door.

A girl was sobbing in the room, not an uncommon thing among damane, but it might also mean that she wasn't entirely broken, "...take me with you..."

Opening the door slowly so I didn't frighten her, I looked in and saw a young girl, no more than 17 crying and begging to be taken with someone in her sleep. Moving as stealthily as I could (mice wouldn't have heard me), I put my hand over the girls mouth to wake her up and prevent a scream. Her eyes flew open and I saw terror in them, I smiled as reassuringly as I could, "I can take you with me, if you want to leave the Seanchan." Casting a ward around the room to prevent her possible scream from being heard I removed my hand from over her mouth.

The girl's face was blotchy with tears, but I could see her freckled skin by the light of the lamps in the hallway. She had brown hair that stretched somewhere beyond her shoulders but was mostly hidden underneath the thin sheets that served as her bedding. She was not pretty, but hate cute features. "You," she said and then hiccuped, "you're going to take me away?"

"Only if you want to, but yes, I will take you away."

"This is a trick, you're going to bring in a sul'dam and she's going to hurt me if I say yes." I reached out and grabbed the silver color around her neck, and after a moment it snapped open. "You're serious? You're going to take me away!" Her eyes got teary again and I placed a finger on her lips.

"I know it's wonderful, but you have to be quiet." She got herself under control, "Have you trained at the Tower?" She shook her head. "I'm going to take you to a camp of Aes Sedai, and they are going to take care of you. I can't take you home because the Seanchan will only find you again. I'm sorry."

"Oh thank you!" She whispered, I helped her up and led her out of the room.

"Do you know any others who want to escape besides the Sea Folk, I got them out already." She shook her head, dang. "Okay, don't be scared." A thought occurred to me and I whispered to her again, "The Aes Sedai are going to make a doorway in the air to their camp, just give me a moment, this ter'angreal will let me know I have someone." I played with the silver earring in my left ear for a moment and then opened a gateway to the rebel Aes Sedai camp just outside of Tar Valon. The gateway showed a closed in tent, the Traveling grounds, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I had found it on my first try, "Go now, ask to see Siuan Sanche, tell her that Taylor sent you. She will be able to help you okay?"

The girl dissolved into silent tears of gratitude, "Your name, I didn't think you were going to tell me. Thank you Taylor, I'm," she paused and then her face twisted into a grimace, "I'm not Dely anymore, my name is Ranella Osell."

"Go Ranella, hurry and remember to ask for Siuan." I pushed her through and let the gateway close behind her. I felt on top of the world, I had helped the Atha'an Miere get to their ships faster and probably with less deaths on their part, and I had saved a young girl from the slavery of the Seanchan.

Sneaking from room to room, I asked each woman the same question over and over, "Do you want me to take that collar off?" If they began screaming for a sul'dam, I put them to sleep and moved on. I sent three more girls to the Aes Sedai, and left over three dozen with the Seanchan. I couldn't force them to come without actually going to the Aes Sedai and telling them the situation, I might later but I couldn't now.

I didn't really care if I had changed something dramatically by what I had done tonight, I couldn't care because I had saved more than a few women from a fate worse than death. Whatever ramifications came of this, I would be happy with the results.

**A/N: Yay :)**


	24. Chapter 24 : Far Madding

I spent four days traveling to camp after Seanchan camp trying to find damane that wanted to get away. They had to be taken to the Aes Sedai, most would have gone looking for revenge or worse and I couldn't let that happen. Two more girls were set free of Seanchan control in the camps surrounding Ebou Dar, and although I tried my best, I couldn't dely any more when I couldn't find any more girls that hadn't been broken by the sul'dam. While I was glad I had freed two more, my failure to find any more weighed heavily on me as I Traveled to Far Madding.  
Inside Far Madding are two ter'angreal, they imitate the effects of a Stedding by cutting of Saidin and Saidar from entering the area they effect. Once inside, if an Aes Sedai has a Well ter'angreal it is possible to channel but not to draw on the Source. I had never entered a real Stedding, but the ter'angreal couldn't stop me from embracing the Unified Power anymore than the Gholam could stop me from touching him with my weaves. I wasn't able to embrace Saidin or Saidar alone, but unified was no problem at all.  
As soon as I arrived, and had my weapons peace bonded, I asked directions to Blue Carp Street. As near as I could tell I arrived the day that everything would happen so I wanted to be waiting so I didn't miss them when they came by. There were more than a few Aiel in Far Madding, and I knew Rand had died his hair black, so I had to keep my eye out for a tall black haired man in the company of Lan. My sword was outside the city, as well as all the knives the men would have been able to find on me. I still had three, and one other that was peace bonded, it was remarkable how easy it was to hide things with the Power. Lan turned a corner of the street beside a man just as tall if not a little taller than him with black hair. Rand would have been recognizable if there weren't so many Aiel already in the city, but he, Lan and Nynaeve were hard to miss.  
Lan nodded towards me just after I spotted him, Rand's eyes held a semblance of pleasure and Nynaeve didn't look to unhappy to see me. All of them, Nynaeve wouldn't have lied to Lan, knew who and what I was if not the whole story. I fell in beside them and Rand moved around Nynaeve to stand beside me.  
"Who sent the letter?"  
"Fain, he's killed the other two and is waiting in the building with Toram Riatin." Rand's face turned to granite, Nynaeve and Lan's faces remained as calm as either of them could manage. Lan never looked calm, but he didn't tense any more than he already was. "He's able to do things now that he's merged with Mordeth, I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the Power but he creates an illusion of the two renegades to distract you. I'll go in with you if you want."  
"No," Rand was controlling himself, barely, but he kept his voice steady. "If Fain is in there I'll kill him myself, Lan can take care of Riatin."  
"And you'll get yourself thrown in jail in the attempt, I hope you realize what will happen if you get thrown in jail besides the fact that the Council will know who you are." I could almost hear Lews Therin moan about being in a box, and Rand's lips thinned. "I can channel here, I can fight better than the both of you, and I can get you out of here and have Cadsuane as your advisor before nightfall." Lan raised an eyebrow at my confidence that I was better than he but I wasn't joking or boasting. Rand was already granite, I didn't want him getting any harder.  
"He's not offering Rand," Lan's voice always seemed to come out of no where, for such a large man he could blend in amazingly well.  
Rand nodded, and I spoke quickly, "I'll not be going into the building with you if you don't want, take care of Fain and Riatin and get back onto the roof. I'll get us out of here after that and Nynaeve won't have to use her Well. It will cause less disturbance and will be less messy this way." Rand nodded thanks as we turned into the alleyway that led to the building they were going to enter.  
"You know about my Well?" I had lifted Rand and Lan into the building and we had been waiting only a few minutes now.  
"I do, it's a remarkable ter'angreal but I could make a more powerful one. One strong enough to make a gateway for one person, any stronger and it would be too obvious. With Wells the more powerful they are the more gaudy they get."  
"Do I ever bond Lan?"  
"You can if you want, just because he's already bonded to someone else doesn't mean you can't bond him. The Aes Sedai who holds his bond has been instructed to pass it on to you as soon as Lan was ready but I think he's trying to keep you from suffering his death through the bond. We do strange things for the ones we love Nynaeve, maybe that is his way of protecting you from him. Besides, if you bond him the sister can release him of hers."  
The former Wisdom of Emonds Field tugged her braid fiercely, glaring at nothing, "Fool man! He knew I wanted," she glanced at me, but her expression was thoughtful, "did I bond him in the future you know?"  
"No, he never told you and you didn't go back to Egwene so the Aes Sedai who holds his bond wasn't able to pass it on to you. I don't know if you get it after that but not in the future I know."  
She tugged her braid again, and Rand stuck his head over the roof's edge, "Lan's hurt, can you lift him down?" Nynaeve paled and embraced Saidar but I put a hand on her arm and she released reluctantly. Now that I was paying attention I heard the sound of someone being dragged closer to us up on the roof. Rand managed to lift Lan over the edge enough for me to see him and I lifted him down to the ground. Rand came after and I knelt beside Lan and delved him.  
"He's got a deep wound in his side, he'll live but he wouldn't be able to move far for a month or more if I don't Heal him." The weaves for Healing settled into Lan and the blood around the wound flaked away as another flow dried them and brushed it away. "Fain?" I asked when Lan had sat up.  
"He got away, but Riatin's dead. We need to move, we can't be around when the guards come." The guards stopped us anyways.  
"You're swords," the officer demanded, holding out a hand. All the men wore cudgles or had hooking poles that would grab a man if he tried to run. Both Lan and Rand had their peace bonding broken or they wouldn't have been able to defend themselves and that was cause enough to be imprisoned. Weaving quickly, I smiled when the officer inspected the unbroken peace bonds and handed them back to Rand and Lan who calmly buckled them back on. Nynaeve tossed me a thankful glance and the officer noticed it. He gave a start when he saw my ears, everyone did, then cleared his throat and asked me if I had any weapons. I handed him my peace bonded knife and he handed it back without examining the wire. "Carry on." He and his men continued on their way to the house Rand and Lan had been in.  
"Can you teach me?" Rand asked after we were on our way back amoung the inns.  
"The sword or Saidin?" He had asked me this before, but Asmodeon was teaching him then. "I can teach you both, but it's not a matter of if, it's when. You're not the only one I'm interested in, although you are certainly more important than the other two." Rand reached up and touched his head faintly, "If you can't see them already, the colors will let you see Mat and Perrin. They won't tell you any more than what you can see directly around them, and I have no idea what it is other than something to do with ta'veren." He nodded, and shook his head to clear the colors. "I also need to speak with you about someone," I tapped my head and he nodded again, Lan and Nynaeve exchanged a look but neither tried to press for information.  
Min, Cadsuane, Verin and several more Aes Sedai with Sea Folk trailing on their heels came into view. Nynaeve seemed to steel herself, but Rand and Lan just kept walking. For her part, Nynaeve didn't even twitch for her braid, so she was increasing her ability to control that habit.  
"Taylor," Cadsuane's voice carried a warning tone, she didn't intimidate me but that didn't stop her from trying to impress. She was Aes Sedai after all, and all Aes Sedai try to impress subconsciously. "I wondered when you would pop up again."  
I smiled sarcastically, "As if you don't enjoy popping up when others least expect it, I would have come earlier but events in Ebou Dar required my attention." Nynaeve started at mention of where Mat had been abandoned, he was in good hands though. Tuon wouldn't let him die before finding out if he really was going to be her husband. "Should I tell Rand who taught you to Travel? I assume someone told you about me?" I didn't like Cadsuane, and no matter what she said I would refuse to be polite to her unless my opinion of her changed. Cadsuane was about as puffed up as the rulers she liked to pull down, as full of herself as any High Lord of Tear.  
A dangerous glint entered her eye, and Nynaeve punched me in the ribs but I didn't grunt or show any idication that she had hit me. Faint movement from her let me know she was flexing her hand in pain, when I wanted to be I was as solid as stone. Rand stopped things from going any farther though, "I assume Verin told you? And I suppose you want to hear my apology now?" Cadsuane nodded slightly, a small smile curving her lips a hair. "I apologise for my rude behavior in Cairhien, I accept your conditions and I ask that you be my advisor." He didn't sound strained at all, Cadsuane's smile didn't grow in satisfaction but her eyes held a triumphant light. It was there for a heartbeat before it was gone, but it had been there and I was sure Rand had seen it too.  
"I told you sheephearder," Min said at his side.

We stayed at our respective inns that night, and I summoned Cyndane and Moghedien. Moghedien came first, ten minutes after I called. Outside the city and beyond the range of the ter'angreal, her gateway opened five paces away from me. Stepping through, she peered around carefully before letting the gateway close, she smoothed her skirts when her eyes found me off to the side of her. "You summoned me?"  
"When Rand al'Thor uses the Choedan Kal," no need to dance about the subject, "you will go but not attack. Make sure another of the Forsaken besides Cyndane sees you, then leave. If you stay I will kill you, afterwards you will remain hidden from the other Forsaken and you will come when I summon you again. Go now." She nodded, there was nothing to say between us. Another gateway opened into blackness and she stepped onto a platform that led to a guilded chair for Skimming.  
Cyndane came two hours later, I wasn't going to get much sleep this night. "You summoned me? Moridin was issuing orders for when Lews Therin uses the Choedan Kal or I would have come sooner."  
"You will follow his instructions, but if you try to kill Lews Therin Reborn I will kill you first. Remember Lanfear, I know how much you want to and I will be more than unhappy if he dies." She shuddered, Cyndane was a pale shadow of her former beauty as Lanfear but the silver haired woman was still stunning. "When he uses the Choedan Kal, and the sphere of darkness begins to collapse you will flee. I will summon you after that, and you will come. Go now."

**A/N: A fast forward version of those chapters, and no mention of Luc, I'm not sure exactly how I'm gonna work him into the story if at all. He's important somehow, but I'm not sure what Robert Jordan is going to do so I'm not gonna touch em.**


	25. Chapter 25 : Talendari

**A/N: MAJOR PLOT TWIST!!!  
A/N: I know that the removal of the Taint on Saidin is a big deal, it's a very big deal in the books, but not in my story. Because it doesn't directly effect Taylor, (he's already immune to the Shadow's poison) I skipped through the battle at Shadar Logoth and jumped ahead to my own bizare view of how I want this story to continue.  
**

"Don't try to force Saidar," Rand had been listening to Nynaeve lecture him for the past hour, "surrender to it and let it's own strength guide it to what you want."  
"He knows, Nynaeve," Min told her, "you've only told him twenty times."  
"He'll try to force it, Saidin and Saidar are so completely opposite. Surrendering to Saidin means death, it's like with your block Nynaeve. You tried to force Saidar to do as you wanted because surrender is alien to you, only with your complete surrender did you break the block and Rand will find it hard enough to fight Saidin and surrender to Saidar at the same time."  
Nynaeve rolled her eyes, Rand still looked as if he were listening but he might have gone to sleep for all the emotion he exressed. Cadsuane rode up beside Rand and he blinked. I rode off with the arrival of the rest of the Aes Sedai. I wouldn't be helping in the battle with the Forsaken, I could feel Shaidar Haran coming closer. Ever since we had come to Shadar Logoth it had been drawing nearer, it was almost here.  
"Where are you going?" Cadsuane asked me.  
"I have my own battle today, and I'm glad I have my angreal." I fingered the golden earring before realizing what I was doing and snatched my hand away. "If I survive, I think I'll sit down and have a long chat with you."  
"Don't say that!" Min told me fiercely, "I saw your children Taylor, you will survive this."  
"I'm not sure that normal rules apply to me Min, I might be the first to prove your viewings wrong. Other than me, you have never," I looked directly into her eyes then, "and will never be wrong. Never doubt your viewings." She seemed a bit shaken by what I had said, and several of the Aes Sedai looked confused by what I had said.  
Rand and Nynaeve got set up, I walked far enough away from them that I would have had to use my angreal to affect anything near them without directly attacking. An explosion of Saidar rocked my senses, it felt as if the whole of Saidar was being pulled into a single spot. Saidin exploded as well, so much that I thought I would have died happy to hold so much. Shaidar Haran stepped out of a shadow. 

**A/N: From here on out I'm taking complete creative licence in the writing of this story. Some of you might not like it, but you have to realize that I write for myself, and having you guys read it and send me reviews is just a bonus.**

Light, somewhere beyond my vision I saw light. No, not beyond my vision, behind my eyelids. Why wouldn't they open? A hand touched my cheek, a soft caress made me think of someone I knew. Who had touched me like that? The hand was on my forehead now, the little finger running through my eyebrow. I did know someone who did that! Why wouldn't my eyes work? I tried to speak but my throat was closed. I wasn't breathing. My heart wasn't beating. Was I dead? I didn't feel dead, the hand was warm on my skin. If I was dead, Moiraine! Rand! No I couldn't be dead! Shaidar Haran appeared and then, what? I couldn't remember! What happened? I'm not dead!  
"Come back," a voice I knew, but from where? "Don't leave me now that I've found you, come back." Something tugged at my memory, the voice? No it was more than the voice, what was going on. "I found you, you can't leave me now."  
Water dropped onto my face, tears? Probably, the voice sounded sad enough for tears. My eyelids wouldn't open! Parts of my brain weren't working as fast as others, I knew that, or else I would know why the voice was so familiar. I tried to make some sound, some noise that would let whoever was crying for me know I was still here.  
"I won't let you leave me, I spent too long searching for you for you to die." A jolt of pain ran through me and I tried to scream, my throat still didn't work. A second jolt made me want to cry out in agony, I wanted to howl. A third jolt and my heart started beating, lips on my own forced breath into my lungs and I felt life returning. The breath in my lungs was the sweetest thing I had ever known, the flood of life through my body was the absolute pinacle of pleasure. My eyes opened and I stared at the blurry face above me.  
"Talendari," her name, the woman I had reached out to in the vison of the other Kel 'Aridavin. Even without seeing the features of her face I knew, and the knowing made me shiver.  
"Deshuvekil," my name, the name I had been given by the Creator. She said it with so much tenderness and love I wondered if there was more than my battle with Shaidar Haran gone from my memory.  
"You must rest, my heart, the battle with the Shadow's Hand left you ruined. You died before I could find you, but I brought you back."  
"I know you, but how? I love you," I realized with a start that I did! I loved her, and I only knew her name. "How?"  
"We are each reborn, Deshuvekil, but none have followed the river of time after the Creation. When you arrived we all knew it, our memories were returned and each of us began preparing for the Last Battle in our own way." She was so beautiful, and her ears were pointed just like mine. She loved me. "What about Rand, the others?"  
"They are safe, Deshuvekil. The Dragon removed the Dark One's Taint on Saidin and left with the Aes Sedai, they are in Tear." I breathed a sigh of relief, Shaidar Haran had only stopped me, "I've found you, and I won't let you go again." Her face was delicate, big blue eyes locked with mine and I felt my mind try to remember this woman who was like me. I had called her Talendari, the name the Creator gave her, and I loved her but who was she? "Your memories may take time to return, I will explain a few things to you now instead of waiting." She had my head laying in her lap and she was kneeling on the ground. "We twelve, the Hand's of the Creator, were there at the moment of Creation. It was we who sealed the Dark One in his prison, the Creator moved on immediatly after this world was completed. You are the strongest of us, I the weakest. Our way of working with the Power is different from how humans use it, when a strong and weak join together the Power able to be used is multiplied based on the ratio between the two. The difference between us was enough that the struggle to imprison the Dark One tipped in our favour. Because you and I were the reason the Dark One was imprisoned instead of breaking free, our power was magnified in the repercussions of the imprisonment. You are more powerful than you were, and I stand by your side in strength." She began brushing her fingers across my face in a familliar way, I remembered her now. "Our advantage in joining is gone, but that moment bonded us together forever.  
"We were lovers," I remembered her, "the others were jelous of my affection towards you, especially Rilankust." Where were these memories coming from? I knew names, recognized faces I had never seen or heard before. Hazy rememberance of former lives skittered across my mind, and in each Talendari was with me. "Three lives lived in our regular rotation of rebirth, three Ages before we were reborn in a different time. Reborn on a different time with each new life, we were always together."  
"When I saw you in my mind, when you took your ring, I was brought to this time. I felt your battle with the Shadow's Hand and came as quickly as I could but the battle was over and you had been defeated before I could find you."  
Min was right, a woman would bring me back from the dead. Her viewing of me, and the viewing about having children with someone would come true. But she had said nothing about Talendari. "Are you supposed to be here? I have a knowledge of how a certain future takes place but I did not see myself, or any other Kel 'Aridavin in what I know."  
"If I wasn't supposed to be here," my eyes were finally coming into focus and I saw the face of the woman loved. Light! My life was getting as tangled as Rand's. "I belong here, we have never been apart in a lifetime and we would have been had you not brought me. You and I are linked, Deshuvekil, and I will never leave your side again." Lanfear was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, until Talendari. Her beauty was not so striking as the Forsaken, you had to look to see it. Dark brown hair fell to below her shoulders in a stepped design, and framed a slightly heart shaped face. Her eyes were an almost aquamarine color, shifting between green and blue and inbetween depending on how she held her head. Full lips, a lovely nose (though how a nose could be lovely is still a mystery to me), high cheekbones that added to her regal appearance, and a warm smile made her fair skin glow. She was so beautiful it made my heart ache with love for her, but my love for Moiraine was there too. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle this.  
She continued, "The memories will return, and you will know everything. Until then you will do something for me before I answer any questions of yours." I stared at her in amazement. She had brought me back from the dead, confessed her love for me, promised never to leave my side, and now she toys with me? "How much do you love your human?"  
What could I say? I loved Moiraine, but I had been away from her for so long! Could I love both women? The thought seemed completely foreign to me and similar at the same time, "I love Moiraine, but it has been so long since I've seen her. I know I love you, but I can't tell you I don't love her too." Memories of living with Talendari flooded my mind and I knew that I spoke the truth. She and I had lived hundreds of lives together, always together from the moment we met. In each life we met at different times but afterwards we were inseperable, love at first sight took on new meaning when I watched myself in previous lives.  
"She holds an equal part of your heart," she did not appear angry, that was good unless she was holding in her anger. I would not leave Talendari any more than she would leave me, and if she decided that she was the only woman who could have me I didn't know what I could do. Almost casually she pressed the fingernail of her thumb against my throat, "I have shared you before, women have caught your heart before we met and it has always been the same. But you are mine! Before, now, and always you are mine." She had told me the same thing when we first realized what we felt for each other after the Dark One was imprisoned.  
"_You_ are mine," I reminded her, "I chose you just as you chose me." My arms worked again, they were weak but they could move when I wanted them to. I reached out and wrapped them around her neck, pulling her down into a gentle embrace. "I need to," pain lanced up my side when I tried to rise. A dark circular hole was set just below my ribs on my right side, I fingered it tenderly and winced. Was this a never healing would that would kill me eventually? Rand had told me he still felt as if the wound Padan Fain's knife had given him was still there, and I had not even tried to Heal the wound Ishamael gave him. "The wound will leave you," her hands pressed against my shoulders and I lowered my head back onto her lap, "I removed the evil but the wound must mend on it's own. If I try to Heal it the wound will rebel against the flows, you will have to be stitched up like a mortal."  
Memories crystalized and I saw each previous life as if I were watching the movie at super high speeds. My life only ended with an accident or murder, never a natural death. Almost always death came before two hundred, but dozens of times amoung hundreds I could not find Talendari until almost a millenia had passed and could not die without her. I was like the elves of stories, immortal except by accidental death or murder, even my ears made it seem real somehow. Each life with Talendari, each blissful moment in her arms, each raging inferno arguing with her, each moment holding her hand in mine came and went as fast as I could catch it. All stored in my memory, the memory that had failed me until now.  
All skills I had learned normally over my past lives that I had not 'learned' in my special way came to me in a rush. I had learned to juggle? Laughing, I pulled Talendari's face to mine and kissed her a thoroughly as I had ever kissed any woman and she trembled breathlessly when I was done. I hadn't 'learned' that from anyone I touched, I hadn't 'learned' how to stich a man up from a wound, I hadn't 'learned' how to play every musical instrument imaginable. There was so much in my head it was hard to focus on any one thing.  
"We have to go to Rand, the Dragon needs to know he has another ally in this fight."  
From where though? Looking past Talendari's face I saw the tree's that made up the woods surrounding Shadar Logoth, I could feel the residue of Saidin and Saidar from when Rand and Nynaeve used the Choedan Kal. Had he been sucessful? Yes he had, Talendari had said he removed the Shadow's Taint from Saidin. How long had my battle with Shaidar Haran lasted? What happened, how had it overpowered me?

The overly tall Myrddraal stepped out of a shadow cast by one of the pines, I wasn't affected by its fear inducing gaze, and even normal Myrddraal would have felt a twinge of fear if the Shadow's Hand looked at it. Even the Forsaken aren't unaffected by the gaze of this creature.  
"The Dragon cannot be allowed to remove my master's shadow," the dry crackling voice was definate in it's statement, I set myself and drew the Unified Power through my angreal. Opening myself to the point where I could draw no more, I waited for what was going to happen.  
"The Dragon will remove it or not depending on his own ability, the outcome will not be changed by you or me."  
"Your angreal is of no importance anymore," the Myddraal held up it's left hand and a band of black metal encircled it's wrist. A sa'angreal for the True Power? Pullling everything I could through my angreal, and then through all the other angreal I had on my person I waited. I guessed that Shaidar Haran would have come up with something to combat my angreal so I brought all the angreal attuned to Saidin and Saidar I could find. If the Shadow's Hand had a sa'angreal I might stand a chance, I might.  
"You will disrupt my master no more," it raised a hand and I threw myself to one side as black flames erupted from infront of it's fingers. It flowed aside to avoid a small fireball I threw at it, it wasn't using a shield. Hurling myself about to avoid whatever the black flame was I threw little fireballs of pure heat as fast as I could weave, two struck it and the Myrddraal staggered each time but other than that there seemed to be no damage done. Maybe it was using a shield.  
Using Air I formed flows that would cut it in two, before they could touch it the weaves struck something and Shaidar Haran grunted with the impact but it was unhurt. It wasn't using the shield that Rand has used in the Sun Palace, or the one I had placed over the cour'souvra that held Cyndane and Moghedien's souls. Weave severing flows of Spirit and Fire as powerful as I could make them slammed into the barrier around the Myrddraal from every direction at once and the shield shattered, instantly afterwards lighting struck from the sky and Shaidar Haran was hurled aside when it struck just beside it. It had managed to erect a weak shield to deflect the bolt a fraction.  
Agony! My body was being torn apart! I lashed out wildly, striking whatever was causing me to scream and the pain stopped. The Shadow's Hand was standing over me with a smile on it's pasty white face. "You are not welcome in my master's world." It's hand moved towards my face, thinking fast I plunged a dagger into it's palm and another into it's thigh silently thanking the Aielman who had 'taught' me knives. Scrambling to my feet I formed the weaves for balefire, this thing had to die now. Raising my hand I watched it mirror me. Black fire and a liquid bar of light met with an explosion that might have matched a nuke, I tried to contain the blast until I realilzed we weren't in the forest anymore. Everywhere was darkness, we were floating in emptiness, a vast cavern of nothing. The explosion couldn't do any harm here so I focused on keeping my own shield up.  
"Your master is going to loose Myddraal!" I shouted at the darkness, and I was enveloped in white light. Shaidar Haran appeared, it's expression unreadable. I couldn't imagine seeing much expression at all on a Myrddraal's face but now we were in a never ending place of light. Balefire flew from me again, and it was met with the black flame as it had before. A second stream of balefire flew from my other hand, about the size of my little finger and it was met by an equally small bar of the flame the Myddraal used like balefire. Two eruptions shook me to my core, I felt as if I shoud fall apart into nothing.  
"Enough of this!" Shaidar Haran was singed in places, it's cloak and armor seemed blacker in spots. I was untouched but the Shadow's Hand didn't seem concerned at all. It raised the arm that had the black metal ring on it's wrist above it's head, I felt a searing bolt of pure pain in my side, and I died.

"What did it use, what was the black ring it used to kill me?" Talendari was cradling my head against her breasts and I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't just remembered how I died. Rocking back and forth, she held me tightly and wouldn't answer. "Talendari, what did it use to kill me? I was winning, I could have killed it if the battle had continued as it had. What did it use?"  
She was trembling, and I wondered if she was trying to comfort me or holding me was comforting her. I sat up, ignoring the buring lance of pain that shot up from the wound in my side. I had to pry her arms from around my neck and head, then held her hands in mine. "I don't know," she replied before I could ask again. "There are only two more powerful than you, the Creator and the Dark One. If the Shadow was able to create a device that allows it's Hand to kill us without a struggle we are doomed. Always before we have been stronger than the Shadow's tools, it was necessary to join to seal the Dark One but even Ulerik was more powerful than the strongest of the Shadows minions. He was stronger than Ishamael, and now we are stronger than any of the Kel 'Aridavin."  
Ulerik had never been touchy that he was the weakest after Talendari rose in power after the sealing, he would have been unconcerned if the sun exploded in his face. "We have to find Rand, and then I need to find out how much time has passed. If I've missed things, events that have to happen, I may never be able to change the things I want to."  
"Your battle with the Black Hand," she sounded slightly unbelieving and I paid close attention to what she was saying, "went outside of time. Somehow, the Myddraal pulled you out of time and reality to do battle. You only reappeared after you were dead and defeated."  
"How long?" The small matter of going outside of time and space didn't seem all that important right now, when I was now mattered much more than when I had been.  
"The Taint on Saidin has been removed for twelve days, you appeared before my feet as I searched the forest."  
Twelve days! I had been gone for twelve days! "How did you bring me back?"  
"You were dead. When I found you I, I nearly lost my mind. You had died and how could I Heal death? I shocked you, your heart specifically and after three your heart beat again." There were tears in her eyes, and I rubbed a hand over my chest where I remembered the jolts of pain that her shock had caused. Did patients who went into cardiac arrest feel the shock? They would have said something about it if they did.  
"They do that in the time I came from. A woman I know who can see pieces of the Pattern told me that a woman would bring me back from the dead, I didn't realize that she had meant that literally." I brushed a finger against Talendari's cheek in a circular movment, a familiar gesture between us even if I had never done it in this life. Grunting against the pain, I rose from my sitting position cursing the ability to feel pain. It never occured to me to hide from the pain in the void. Willing the Unified Power to follow my commands, I felt it fill me with completeness. Unconsciously I reached out and included Talendari in the Power and smiled when she joined with me, we always did everything together if possible. Working in unison as much as the two sides of the True Source did, we wove a gateway to the manor house of Lord Algarin of Tear. Both the Asha'man and Aes Sedai would be aware of their side of the Power being weilded, and more than likely after Logain had been there they would not be alarmed.  
"You have shared me before Talendari, but how much did you enjoy the situations?" In all my remembered past lives she had never said a thing against any woman I had wed or become lovers with before her, but that did not mean she approved. "Did the two of you get along? You never let me know even when I asked you."  
"Most I approved of," she said in a haughty manor, "and some I did not." She had a twinkle in her eye I knew meant she intended to give me a piece of her mind for some of them eventually.  
Lord Algarin was a minor Lord, not powerful enough to be considered for a High Lord, and in debt to Cadsuane for taking his brother to the White Tower to be stilled before he could go mad. Algarin himself had probably gone off to the Black Tower to become Asha'man by now, he was able to learn.  
A woman and a man, both of which could channel, stepped out from the snow covered trees and stood in our way. Jahar and Merise, Aes Sedai and Warder. They were a candle compared to Talendari and my forest fire in strength but they stood to block our path. Both recognized me, but neither moved. Jahar had known me before being bonded to Merise but he took cues from her now and Merise must not want me going any closer without an explanation of our purpose.  
"Jahar," I raised my hand in greeting but he waited before Merise nodded slightly before raising his own hand to wave in response. Talendari and I were still joined so she felt my irritation at how 'whipped' the man had become. A flash of amusement came from her before she stifled it, she had always believed men should defer to women even if she enjoyed my dominance of our relationships. That she was the exception to her own view of how things should be did not bother her in the slightest.  
I was limping, the wound would have to heal on it's own, but it wasn't too noticable. Merise decided that she might as well speak to us, "I know you Taylor, but I do not know the woman." Jahar's head swayed slightly and the bells in his braids chimed as he stared at Talendari. I would have been unable to tear my gaze away from her if I had not known her in thousands of lives before, it was difficult not to look at her anyways.  
"I would hardly bring an enemy before the Dragon, and what could you do if I did?" It was a valid point, very likely all the Aes Sedai, Asha'man, Warders and soldiers here would not be enough to stop us if they tried to restrain us. "I need to speak with Rand, don't act as if you can stop me."  
Jahar's face hardened, his left hand twitched and while Merise's Aes Sedai serenity remained on her face her eyes blazed in anger. Joined, we would have been a becon of the Power to men and women if we had not masked our ability so neither Merise or Jahar knew we were holding the Power. We had not stopped walking while we had been talking, and now the Aes Sedai and Asha'man Warder had to move or be run down. Merise embraced the Power through Jahar and I almost missed a step realizing that she intended to stop us! Flows of Saidar formed before the Aes Sedai then streaked into the sky to explode in a red fireball. A signal of some kind, but what it meant was sure to be known soon. They stepped aside for us, Jahar trying to keep his face hard while staring at Talendari. It wasn't only her face that drew attention, she wore a modest light blue silk gown in the Andoran style but even had she been in rags it would be impossible to hide her regal bearing. The dress hugged her curves just enough to point them out but not emphasise, and while her bosum wasn't large enough to draw stares it was not inconsiquential. In short, she was breathtakingly beautiful and her pointed ears added grace to her lightly swaying glide that I was sure made her seem a queen of queens.  
The manor house was not large compared to some I had seen. Loial was coming out of the doorway, I had never met the Ogier. I had seen him, but I had never met him. He gave a start when he saw us, he must have been deep in thought. "Hello Taylor," his booming Ogier voice made me wince slightly, everything was magnified when someone embraced the Power, but the amount I held and joined with Talendari made every sound seem blaring without really being loud. "Rand was talking about you, and Min has been worried sick about where you went after Rand cleansed the Taint on Saidin." He acted as if we were old friends, I smiled in spite of myself and his own smile split his face in two. "I am so glad you are here, maybe you will be able to tell me more about what happened at Shadar Logoth."  
"I'm afraid I won't, Loial. I was only there for a moment before I had to leave and didn't see any more than the start." His eyes grew sad for a moment, lamenting the lack of information for his book, "Is Rand here? I need to speak with him."  
Loial drew out a small leather bound book and a pen, "He's speaking with Cadsuane Sedai right now Taylor, she has been asking about you too and I don't think it would be a good idea to interrupt them. Cadsuane Sedai is very, well she is Aes Sedai." He gave us a small bow, directed more towards Talendari, and walked away. He must have been very busy or completely scatterbrained to forget I had never met him, and that he had most certainly never met Talendari. A servant met us at the door and I asked after Tila. The young woman in Lord Aginor's livery led us quickly around corners and along hallways, I never noticed the decorations if I could help it. Everything was so bizare in it's design, after clothing here little could jar the eye but jars or tapestries could catch my eye sometimes and make me stare before catching myself. Tairen maze designs were espescially bizare.  
The maid opened a door, and I saw Min and Nynave sitting in a chair with her hands clasped tightly on their laps talking with a young woman I did not know. Min glanced up and her eyes widened before she launched herself at me, hurtling into my embrace she ran right into the wound Shaidar Haran had given me and I groaned in pain. Min had never done this before, why was she touchy feely now? Seeming not to notice my discomfort, she was crying and holding me in a vicious embrace. I broke the joining with Talendari, there was no need anymore.  
"You are alive! I was so worried, I thought you were dead. When you left, and then when you didn't come back. I thought you had. And Rand needs you to be at the Last Battle with him, Mat and Perrin!"  
"I'm alive. The woman who raised me from the dead in your viewing made sure of that." Letting go of me, she looked over at Talendari and gasped softly when she saw her ears. Her head moved up and down as she looked the woman over, then she turned back to me with an unreadable expression.  
She looked at me for almost a full minute before she spoke, "Wait outside."  
They were going to talk? About what? Talendari seemed to agree with her so I left, wondering what Min could want to speak with Talendari so badly about. I didn't know my way around the manor so I waited outside and didn't try to eavesdrop even when a ward against listeners shielded the room. It had been done with the Unified Power, I wouldn't have been able to break through without near a week of time to study how each thread was laid before I even tried to work past it. Sitting quietly, I wasn't suprised to see Rand come down the hallways towards me.  
"You're really here," he sounded happy to see me, his face actually had a bit of warmth in it without Min nearby. "When you didn't come back I thought you had died. Even with Min's viewings I wasn's sure."  
He was so different, before he had been stone hard and near emotionless on the outside but he was almost warm! "I did die, and I was brought back." How easy it was to think about that! I had died, but thinking about it didn't bother me at all.  
"You died? But death cannot be Healed."  
"True death takes time, and even if the heart has stopped beating it can be restarted. Aes Sedai know only the most basic Healing Weaves, and they almost never experiment with new Healing. Talendari and I both know more than Semirhage of Healing." Rand didn't know who Talendari was (duh). As quickly as I could I explained the situation, what Talendari and I were, and that she would help me help him. He took it in stride until I told him that it was us who sealed the Dark One away.  
"If you made it, you can fix the bore in his prison! Fixing a hole must be easier than trapping the Dark One and sealing him away."  
"It's not that simple," explaining was going to be difficult, "when we sealed the Dark One in his prison circumstances were different. We had advantages we don't have now, and it would take both the Choedan Kal to restore the advantage. The female half of the sa'angreal is gone now and so is our advantage."  
"What advantage?"  
"When we link," I was going to say join but Rand knew linking so I said link, "things are different than between women or women and men. The larger the difference in strength, the stronger the two of us are when linked. Talendari and I had the largest difference, and with our joining the twelve of us were able to overpower the Dark One and seal him away. We were only just able to do it as it was, and Talendari is almost as strong as I am now so we don't have that advantage. Besides, the Prophecies of the Dragon say that you will defeat the Dark One, not me or her, Rand al'Thor will defeat the Dark One."  
He sighed, "I've got to die to live, maybe Min will see something to help me know what to do other than keep Alivia with me when I go to Tarmon Gai'don." I had my suspicions about that particular part of prophecy, but I wouldn't know for sure until it happend.  
"The Aes Sedai under Egwene think you used compulsion to make the sisters swear to you."  
"Asmodeon never taught me compulsion, he claimed to have never learned it, I don't want to know how to do it anyway. Graendal uses compulsion, Moghedien uses compulsion, Rahvin used compulsion, all the Forsaken used and use it. I won't take away a person's free will, I'll unify the nations and we'll march to the Last Battle. I don't need compulsion." He leaned against the wall opposite me, "What will you be doing?"  
"I'm going to tell as many as I can what your channeling really was, almost all believe it was the Forsaken and that they have a devistating new weapon. If it were true I don't think anyone could stand against them, but it was you and the world needs to know. I will probably not be believed, but they have to have the other possibilities. Egwene and the rebels at least need to know, Elayne and Aviendha should know, I should tell the White Tower but how would I make them listen?"  
Alivia turned the corner and saw us talking. The former damane had lived nearly four hundred years as a slave to one sul'dam or another, I wondered how much Nynaeve had taught her about men and women now. "Cadsuane wants to speak with you," her Seanchan drawl wasn't difficult to understand, it was as easy to understand as any other accent. "And you." Her gaze fell on me, and I stared back up at the former damane before she walked back towards where she had come.  
"Is she teaching you anything yet?" I got up and followed him as he went to speak with Cadsuane.  
Rand snorted, "Manners is all so far, I'm beginning to wonder if I need to ask the Dark One to go away nicely." We both laughed at that, his laugh was mirthless though and it made mine seem especially loud. "She has to teach me something, but neither Min nor I can figure out what it is."  
"Maybe if you didn't insist on figuring everything out for yourself she could teach you easier. That is the point of a teacher, to give you information you don't already have." Rand was a hand taller than me, but every inch seemed to stretch for height when I called him down. "She's here to advise you, let her advise. I know what you have to learn and it seems you may already be on your way to learning it but don't resist her! When she said what she did was for your own good she meant it, only your interests concern her and she's willing to do anything to make sure you learn what you have to before the Last Battle."  
"She wants me to be human, to laugh and cry again? I thought it might be that, but I can't feel if I'm going to win the Last Battle." I missed a step and only Rand's arm kept me up, "I can't afford tears when millions might die before this is over, I can't take time for laughter when thousands will starve to death."  
He had figured it out! How? "If you defeat the Dark One, will it be a victory when you take his place?" He missed a step this time, but he caught himself and pressed a hand against his side before dropping his arms to his sides. "Being human is feeling sorrow when someone dies, laughing when you hear a joke, crying when you are sad. If you aren't human, if you defeat the Shadow as you want to be, what will happen then? If you survive what then? You won't feel love, Aviendha, Elayne and Min won't be in your heart. You won't feel sorrow, the women who died for you won't matter. You won't feel happiness, winning won't matter to you. Bitterness will be all that is left, bitterness that you can't feel anymore, can't love. You will take the Dark One's place if that happens and the world will burn with your anger."  
"You sound so sure, you said you don't know the outcome so how do you know all this?"  
"If you rip out your humanity you are no better than the Dark One."  
I didn't follow him when he went into a room to Cadsuane, I went back and waited for Min and Talendari to come out of the room and for them do decide if I was worthy to learn of what they had discussed.

**A/N: So... Talendari... ya I have no idea where I came up with them.**


	26. Chapter 26 : Until I Return

**A/N: The Final Chapter! At least until I get back.**

**UPDATE!!! I´m going to be updating very slowly throughout, unless I loose interest. What´s going to happen is I´m going to update chapters, I´ve been going over what I´ve written (in my head I haven´t had time to read it) and I don´t like where it went in certain parts, mainly this last little twist I added. I think it´s stupid now but I liked it when I wrote it, so I´m modifing chapters as I have time, which won´t be much.  
If I add another chapter, you´ll get parts, and VERY slowly, I´ll just update the chapter as I have time, and I don´t have the same access to the books as I did while in Canada so if I get off the storyline (unless it´s blatently obvious that I want to) send me a shout out and let me know where to go.**

(Dream/Flashback)  
"We can't do this!" Ulerik cried in dispair. "Shai'tan is too strong!"

I clung to the Power, fighting desperately to push against the tidal wave of Power the Lord of Shadow threw at us. The Unified Power warred with the True Power, Talendari clung to my arm and Rilankust held desperately to Ilendica as another buffet of air blew her white hair awry. Shai'tan laughed manaicallly, hurling the whole of his strength against us.

WHERE IS YOUR CREATOR NOW?

Guilvidred screamed in agony, he had tried to follow the Creator when She left us here. Olsiveth cried out in rage, and pulled all she could into the Unification. I tried to push against the seemingly insurmountable amount of power Shai'tan was throwing against us, tried to force the others to push with me. They all tried, fighting with every fiber of their being, but it wasn't enough.

THE HAND DIES WHEN IT IS CUT FROM THE BODY. THE KEL 'ARIDAVIN WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!

Talendari's fingernails dug into my skin, and I knew what we had to do. Changing the nature of the weave we pulled the wave of destruction towards us, before Shai'tan could react we altered the course of the wave of destruction slightly at it flowed over us. Lashing out with the sealing weave, it slammed home around the Lord of Shadow but crumbled before it could solidify. In the split second it took him to destroy the seal, I dropped from the Unification and Talendari left with me. Joining together, our strength magnified by the difference between us, we rejoined in the Unification. Now we could win!

HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO WIN? THE WORLD WILL BE REMADE IN MY IMAGE!

The sealing weave slid around the Dark One and solidified, his horrified screams of terror and rage were the last thing we heard before Shai'tan was sealed away forever.

Jerking upright, the hand that had fallen on my shoulder was pulled off by my movement. Talendari and Min stood before me, I had fallen asleep waiting for them. Both of them were smiling, good news? It seemed that I was not allowed to learn what they had spoken of, not that I really expected them to tell me anything. Girl talk was always private.

As I had told Rand I would be leaving, I decided to go before Cadsuane found me. I wasn't sure exactly why I was avoiding the Green except that that I knew I wouldn't like her. She was a hypocrite in my eyes, going around deflating peoples ego's when her own was the size of the White Tower. Phaw!

Holding open the gateway on the Lugard road, I waited as Talendari said her goodbyes to Min. The two had stuck together the moment they met, Min facinated her and she facinated Min. Neither Talendari or I could remembered a Talent like Min's in all of our lives. A servant was busying herself with the packhorse we had purchased, and Rand was looking at me through the gateway.

"Take care of Mat, I'll need him before too long," Rand was absolutely serious right then.

"He's got more people looking out for him than he knows, but I'll keep and eye on him when I can spare it."

Talendari glided through the gateway, her green silk skirts divided for riding looked enough for a minor noble. My own clothing was less extravagant than hers, I remembered being nobility and more in all my previous lives but that information couldn't change who I was now. And now I didn't like the gaudiness of all the clothing nobles wore. So instead of embroidered clothing and well tailored clothing I had a well fitting grey coat that went alright with my black pants. Nothing fancy, I probably looked like Talendari's servant and she had rolled her eyes when I changed into these clothes.

Whenever we met another traveler on the road we asked about the traveling show, and got different answers based on the people we asked. Soon enough though I figured that Luca was about two or three towns away away, roughly ten or twelve days travel for the slow moving show if Luca decided that he wanted to stop to set up somewhere, which he most certainly would.

Seanchan were everywhere, patrols on the road and settlers with their wagons and odd animals. Talendari and I had no fear of being detected by damane, not that there were many on the road. Our ability to channel only presented itself when we were holding the Power, otherwise we might as well not be able to channel at all as far as others were concerned. Our ears did draw eyes, I had decided that I would not hide who I was and Talendari had agreed with me.

"Min told me about your viewing," my viewing? "That you would have a son and a daughter." I got a bit light headed for a moment, kids! "When she saw me, she said she saw two children in my future. She was not sure by whom and did not know the sex of the babies but I believe it confirms your viewing." The world got hazy for a while as I struggled to remain upright on my horse. Children? Me? Would they be Kel 'Aridavin? Talendari moved her horse beside mine, "I don't think it would hurt to stop at the next village and wait for this Luca's show to come to us would it?"

Lost in my musings she had to repeat herself three times before I heard her, "Oh, no I don't think it would be a problem. It'll take about that long before they get to this town," the double meaning behind her question jumped out at me then. "Uh," my face went beet red and Talendari exploded in unlady-like laughter.

When she managed to get herself under control, which took a while, she took my hand in hers. "I did not mean to appear so forward Deshuvekil, but I thought you would want to resume our relationship?"

Her question cut me, of course I wanted to be with her! Of course I wanted everything we had before to be part of us now, but just because I could remember the lives I had lived it didn't mean I was all the people I had been before. "I do, I want to be with you, but this is a new life for both of us. We are truly Kel 'Aridavin once more, and our first responsibility is to help the Dragon defeat the Dark One at Tarmon Gai'don. It is what the Creator would want."

Muttering under her breath, but still loud enough for me to hear, Talendari said, "What about what I want?"

Looking ahead and embracing Saidin I saw the beginnings of a large train of wagons and people ahead, without my Power enhanced eyes they would have only seemed a speck on the horizon. They had stopped moving and were setting up outside Ravel, the town we were in, and Talendari and I planned on going out to see them right away.

"Does Mat still have his ter'angreal? The one that disrupts weaves if he is touching it?" Talendari asked.

"It's the only thing that hurt the Gholam before I came, it saved his life twice and I know he wouldn't let something like that out of his reach for any reason." She nodded, but I had more to say, "There are three Aes Sedai with them, Edesina of the Yellow Ajah, Joline of the Green and Teslyn of the Red. They stayed with him after Ebou Dar, although I'm not sure why they haven't gone on their own."

With nothing to do as we walked towards the show, I thought back on all I had done and experienced in this world. I would be extremely pissed off if this was a dream. Dreams made me remember Egwene and our agreement to meet in Tel'aran'rhiod, I wasn't able to while I was fighting Shaidar Haran, and I had no excuse to forget when I was with Rand. I would have to find her tonight, her dreams if Aran'gar was hounding her. Aran'gar! I decided that if I found the Forsaken in Tel'aran'rhiod or when I went to the rebels I would kill her, she deserved no less for the Aes Sedai she had killed and would kill later.

Lost in thought, I barely noticed that we had arrived. Luca's show was huge, easily the largest wagon train I had ever seen the whole time I had been here and I wondered if he would ever decide to make the tent large enough to enclose his whole show. He hadn't from what I knew, but he might be the first to do it in this Age. Circus tents, I shook my head and laughed softly. Aludra's dragons and dragon's eggs, those would be interesting to talk about though. I hoped that they were put to good use and only used shortly on the Seanchan and more on the Shadow Spawn at Tarmon Gai'don. Brightly painted wagons were parked to the side of the road, Luca's sign proclaiming **Valan Luca's Grand Traveling Show and Magnificent Display of Marvels and Wonders** was up. Small wonder, if Luca had thought he could eek a copper out of the travelers he probably would have set up shop outside a hut. Arranged so that there appeared to be no order and all chaos, the wagons, carts, and cages were placed so randomly that it was hard to see how anyone could find anything in there. There was an order to it, once I took a moment to study the set up. Supply wagons were in one area, living wagons and tents were in another, animal cages far away from the living area, and other wagons were strewn through them all. Several men I assumed were horse handlers came around to glare at us when we didn't keep going, and Luca himself appeared just after them. He had some men setting up the tent wall around his show but we had gotten out here before they had time to enclose the area.

"Good day my Lord, my Lady," he flourished that garishly bright red silk cloak when he bowed as if he were trying to goad a bull, I wondered if there was a humble bone in his body. "I am Valan Luca," he continued to flourish his cloak about even now that he was standing still, "and this is my show. We are not prepared for any performances yet I'm afraid, we will not be able to perform for you until tomorrow." The dismissal was obvious, not rude but impossible to miss.

Pulling on my embroidered green coat and then swatting at my pants I assumed a casual air, "We are not here to see your show master Luca, we are looking for a friend of ours." Luca looked a tad uneasy, if we were Seanchan agents it would mean we were looking for Mat Cauthon and the High Lady Tuon. "We are more than willing to wait if you could have Thom Merrilin speak with us, I understand he is traveling with you and I have not seen him in a very long time."

Luca flourished his cloak to hide a sigh of relief, we weren't looking for Mat or Tuon or the damane, just friends of Thom Merrilin who had perfomed at the last stop. "Of course my Lord, I will fetch him right away." He whirled about and was walking swiftly towards where the tents and wagons were set up for sleeping in.

"Why not ask for Mat?" Talendari asked quietly, "He is the one you wish to speak with isn't he?"

"If I asked for Mat, Luca would have thought we were Seanchan agents trying to find him for stealing damane and kidnapping the High Lady Tuon. I asked for Thom because he is a gleeman and I might have met him before, it is more probable that I know him than Mat." Luca might still think we were working for the Seanchan, but he had admitted that Thom was here so he had to get him or say he had left suddenly which I wouldn't believe. "Besides, I do want to talk with Thom."

Thom's white haired head and long moustaches popped out from around a wagon with Luca trailing right behind half a second after I had begun to get a bit impatient, "Taylor? What are you doing here, I thought you were with Rand?"

"I've got some free time, I wanted to see you and Mat before things draw me back. Besides, I need to relax a bit and taking things easy with you would be nice." Luca's eyes bulged for a moment, a Lord and a Lady would be staying here? Without asking him? "Of course Master Luca, I would pay you handsomely if you allowed us to stay here for a few days. We have our own accomadations and will not cause too much fuss."

The mention of money made his eyes gleam, Luca could have been bribed to steal a baby. "Of course my Lord, I would be honored with your presence." How smooth he was, he had a voice for speaking to large crowds and he was charming enough when he was happy with what was going on. He blinked, and gave a start when he noticed Talendari's and my ears then muttered something to himself. "If you will come with me, I'll show you where you can set up tonight."

Leading us with another flourish of his scarlet cloak, he started booming that a lord and lady were about and to be courteous. From the corner of my eye I saw Blaeric and Fen disappear back amoug the wagons, the sisters would know we were here now. I spotted a child I thought was Olver, he was ugly enough in a childish way, and I thought I saw Noal walking quickly around a corner but I wasn't sure. From what I knew about him he looked a lot like Thom, except that he looked as though every bone in his body had been broken repeatedly. I could Heal him and Thom both, it wasn't as if that would change anything except give them an easier time moving around. Besides, I was almost certain Noal was Jain Charin, or Jain Farstrider. He had been attacked by Ishamael and given the message that drew Rand to the Eye of the World, and had been broken at the same time. I wouldn't be able to Heal his mind, Ebithor was the only one of us who could Heal the mind. Ebithor could do just about anything with the Power when it came to Healing, he had regrown a man's entire lower body when it had been crushed and torn apart in a factory accident!

Sure enough, Joline and the other Aes Sedai came and planted themselves behind us after Luca had shown us where we could sleep for the night. All three were holding the Power and I was wondering why Mat wasn't running to stop them from channeling when he came hurtling around the corner just as fast as Egeanin, Doman, Juilin, and Olver did. There was a moment of silent shock, the Aes Sedai with Joline's Warders behind them and Mat and his people behind him stared at each other as fixedly as they did us.

"Burn me!" Mat said finally, "What are you doing here?"

"That is a good question," Egeanin said before she was road over by the Aes Sedai.

"You are not welcome here," Joline spat, I had not been terribly rude to her when we last met, but I wasn't exactly polite either. Thom had tried to explain but she wouldn't listen to him with the shield I placed between us in Setalla Anan's cellar.

"We ask you to leave," Teslyn said angrily.

"Mat!" I opened my arms as if to hug him, and he took a step back when he saw the delighted grin I had on. "I came all this way to see you and all you can say is ask me what I'm here for?" Mat seemed a bit uneasy by the way I was completely ignoring the Aes Sedai, and I intended to continue on ignoring them.

"I said you are not welcome here," Joline's voice was acid, but as I planned, I continued to ignore her.

I pulled our horses over and tied them to a post in the ground, easiest way to make them stay without using the Power, then put our stuff down before saying any more. Our pack horse was led up beside where our tent was to be set up and I let our other horses be led to where the horse lines were.

Mat came over to speak with me, "What are you doing here Taylor? and who is this woman you're with now? I thought you were smart enough to keep out of women's clutches." He cast an uneasy glance at Talendari as she stared down the Aes Sedai, "Is the other like you? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy you found someone else like you but." We would draw attention he didn't want.

"We can hide easily enough Mat, don't worry." I glanced down and then smiled broadly, "So how did your escape go? I tried to make things a bit smoother for the Atha'an Miere."

Mat's mood instantly went sour, "The Seanchan killed Tylin."

"What!" I had stopped the Gholam from killing her to keep her alive! "But I, I thought I." At a loss for words, I listend to Mat explain that despite evidence against her involvment, Suroth executed Tylin for the murder of a High Blood who was not named, although it was obvious that she was killed because Mat took Tuon. "But," I began again, and Mat noticed my astonishment.

**A/N: Well that's where I got to, hope you enjoyed it so far. When I get back, I'll probably update again so keep me on your author alerts!**

**So I'm guessing that you's peeps want to know where I'm going? If not don't bother reading this. I'm going on a mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the mormons). I'm not taking my computer so I can't do updates, and I'll be too busy knocking on peoples doors to write it out on paper. I will be back, I'm keeping my computer somewhere safe and when I get back I'll more than likely find this and then go on.**

**TTFN,  
blackmagelikesevilpie :)**


	27. Chapter 27 : Update

Alright, I'm back after a break of sorts. I got distracted by Naruto Fanfiction and I haven't had as much time on the computers as I would like, but I have it now and I'll be updating again very soon. Problem is that my updated stuff got deleted because I hadn't touched it forever so I've got to start from scratch from chapter 5. Won't be too bad but I just wanted to let you know how things are going.

Also, I got an e-mail/review asking me if I would mind sharing the whole Unified Power thing, I don't mind. I incorperate all kinds of other ideas into my own stories so I would be honored if someone used my stuff to make their stories better. Just make sure to give credit where credit is due.

blackmagelikesevilpie


	28. Poll

I have been thinking for a little while, added to the fact that I have way less time on the computer so I'm not even really thinking about this story any more. However I am willing to continue working on this story if you, the readers, feel I should continue. I'm currently working on editing chapters but I'm loosing interest in the whole idea.

What I would like to do is re-write the whole thing. Start from scratch and begin anew with the same basic ideas but without any need to follow along with what I have already written.

What I want to know is...

Yes, we want you to continue with this story.

No, we would like to see what you can do with the new story.

I'm probably not going to be able to update much for another 11 months as I'm still outside of Canada. I'll be updating, just not near as often as I would like and no where near as much as I know you want me to. Which ever choice you make I'll probably be writing the thing over again I just won't be posting it up until the first one is done with or I come to a complete and total writers block.

I still have to worry about that other story that I posted up about FF7, which is actually going to take a lot longer to figure out how to go with than this one.

I'll be waiting a few weeks to see how you guys respond.

Blackmagelikesevilpie


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